A woman who alleged she was raped “on many occasions” while living with her former partner in rented accommodation has been granted an emergency barring order by the Dublin District Family Court.
The woman told the court on Friday that she has suffered sexual and physical abuse from the man “for years”.
She said the man has more recently begun to force her to give him oral sex, with the latest such alleged crime occurring 10 days ago.
The man has also been physically and verbally abusive to their pre-teenage children since they were small, she told Judge Gerard Furlong as she made an ex parte – only one side represented – application for the temporary order.
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Temporary orders cover eight working days. A new hearing, which the man has to be served notice of, must take place before an extended order can be granted.
The woman said she rented the accommodation where the man, whom she had separated from last year, still lives. She was the main earner and the man had “lived off me for years”, the woman said.
When at work, she has to leave the children with their father, though generally she tries to keep them away from him as much as possible.
The man, she said, “screams at me all the time,” says she is “having sex with lots of men”, threatens to kill her and threatens to kill himself.
He has recently received a few thousand euro in social welfare back payments, the woman said, and since then is “constantly drunk”. Last week, she said, he ordered a takeaway meal and became angry when the children said they did not want any.
The man started “screaming in Polish in front of the children” and “we were all terrified”. But the next morning, she said, he acted “as if nothing had happened”.
The woman contacted the Garda and engaged with its Domestic Violence Unit. She said she was “very fearful” about making the application as she felt the man would now have “nothing to lose”.
Judge Furlong said he was granting the order “without hesitation”.
In another ex parte case, a married woman told the judge about repeated alleged sexual abuse from her husband and the father of their four children.
“I don’t know if that is valid for a couple, but I know it is too much for me,” the woman said. “I was always hoping for a good relationship.”
In recent days he had come up behind her when she was doing the cleaning and forced his hands into her underwear despite her objections.
He was also exposing himself to her in the house, which makes her feel “disgusted” and anxious about her adult daughter being present.
He is “doing it over and over again”, she said. “I don’t feel safe in the house.”
Three or four years ago, she said, she was in bed with their youngest child when the man got in beside her and, despite her objection, “did what he wanted”.
“I don’t know if this is valid,” she added.
The couples’ four children live with them in the house. She said she feels “awful” after being sexually abused and is exhausted, disgusted, humiliated and scared.
“I want peace and dignity and to be free from abuse,” the woman told Judge Furlong.
The Garda, she said, was now investigating her complaint and had taken away items of clothing for examination.
After the judge explained that the Garda would be notified of the interim barring order, and would remove the husband from the home, the woman said she wanted to ask a question.
“What will I say to the children when they ask where their father is?”
Judge Furlong said it was not really a question he could answer. She knew the truth as to what had happened and knew her children best. Perhaps, he suggested, she could discuss it with a friend.
In another case, a woman made a successful ex parte application for a temporary barring order against her sons, one in his early 40s, the other in his early 30s, both of whom have serious drug problems and live in homeless accommodation.
The woman said she lived in a senior citizens’ community and had been warned by Dublin City Council there was a “high risk” she would be made to leave unless she got the barring orders.
[ Man stabbed partner in face and chest in child’s bedroom, court hearsOpens in new window ]
The two men had recently called to her home with a woman she did not know, had been drinking and were abusive to her when she asked them to leave.
When they were taken away by the Garda, one of them later returned and smashed her windows and damaged the toilet.
“I was scared all that night,” she told Judge Furlong.
The two men ask her for money and shout at her, and one of them had once broken her arm. However, she said she still lets them in because she feels sorry for them.
The woman told the judge she has health issues, suffers from depression and was on a lot of medication.
“Everything that is happening with the boys is making my health much worse,” the woman said.
