A young woman who is “very scared” of her ex-partner got an interim barring order against him hours before an existing barring order was due to expire.
Her ex breached the existing two-year order four times, including once last month when he came into her home while she was out the back, she told the emergency domestic violence court at Dolphin House, Dublin.
He hit her, leaving her with bruising, shouted and screamed at her and damaged property, she said. She was “very scared”, he seemed to be “on something”.
He is on bail in connection with that alleged breach and had warned he would return to the council house, of which both hold a joint tenancy, as soon as the existing order expired at midnight, she said. She also feared his behaviour could affect her tenancy of the property.
Judge Gerard Furlong said the new evidence provided by the woman entitled her to an interim barring order. He returned the matter to early next month, when both sides are entitled to be heard.
The woman’s application was among several made ex parte (one side only represented) before the judge on Friday.
One woman became very distressed after being refused an interim barring order against her partner. Furlong noted the woman earlier this month got an ex parte interim barring order but, when the matter returned to court days earlier, she opted for a safety order rather than a full barring order.
In seeking the second interim barring order, the woman told the judge on Friday the man violated the safety order on Thursday. She said he is not living with her but came to her home and, without her permission, used her personal things and ate her food. When she was videoing him doing that, he called her abusive names and beat her and she was afraid. Both of them had called gardaí.
When the judge said the threshold was not met for an emergency interim barring order and he considered her safety order covered the situation, the woman said: “Please, please, my life is in danger.” The judge reiterated his view, saying she could renew her application for barring in September and could make complaints to the gardaí if issues arose.
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A young man who alleged his drunk mother assaulted him got a protection order against her. This happened after his seven-year-old sister came to his room crying and saying their mother was screaming at her and “pulling her around”, the man said.
He found his mother downstairs drunk and took away an alcohol bottle, he said. His mother screamed and grabbed his hand and scratched it, hitting a vein and causing “a lot of bleeding”.
His mother has a severe alcohol problem, he said. He got a protection order against her previously and she promised to change but continues to drink a lot and is aggressive, he said. Tusla is involved with the family, he added.
Furlong, who noted the man’s mother had days earlier sought and got a protection order against her son, granted his application.
A young mother of several young children told the judge her partner is addicted to weed. One evening this week, when she saw food all over her kitchen wall, he told her it was “in his way”.
He went upstairs and she heard a bang, which was the sound of their youngest child’s travel cot being thrown down the stairs, she said. She took her house key out of his jacket pocket, he came down, punched her in the ribs and tried to shove her outside.
Two of their children were in the sittingroom during this, she said. She rang gardaí and he was taken to court but later phoned her to tell her he had got bail, she said.
The judge granted the woman an interim barring order.
A protection order was granted to a man who said he left the home he shared with his partner for more than three years after she told him she wanted him gone, became abusive and struck him on the chest.
While sleeping in his car in a church car park, his partner arrived and tried to violently drag him from the car, he said. He managed to get away but continues to receive abusive phone calls and texts almost daily from her.
“I’m worried where this harassment will end,” he said. When he said he owes money to the woman, the judge said that was a matter between them.
A pregnant woman who separated from her ex-partner more than three years ago said he continues to verbally abuse her via “nasty” text messages and abusive phone calls. A recent call was on “another level”, he called her names including a “c*** and “f***ing tramp”, she said.
She and her ex had known each other for many years and have a child, she said. His abusive behaviour is affecting her physical and mental health “at a time when I need to be at my strongest” for her child and the baby she is expecting, she said. She had bought her own home and it “has nothing to do with” her ex, she added.
The judge told the woman he would grant a protection order.
