A young woman has obtained a protection order after telling a judge her ex-partner and his mother turned up outside her home wearing balaclavas in an attempt to “intimidate” her.
The woman told Dublin District Family Court that the man, whom she has a child with, threatened to “smash” her home up and “put the car through it”.
She told Judge Gerard Furlong she had to be accompanied to court by a garda due to the threats being made against her.
In a sworn statement to the court, the woman said her former partner and his mother turned up outside her home at night recently wearing balaclavas.
READ MORE
“He previously rang me to tell me he was going to do that with his mother,” she said. “He was pointing at me in my front garden, intimidating me with threats on the phone.”
The woman also told the court the man’s mother turned up outside her home on another recent occasion while she was at court seeking a protection order.
“His mother jumped out of the car and was screaming for me to come outside the house for his mother and sister to hit me,” she said. “They were threatening my mam to come out and threatening to hit her too.”
The woman said she cannot “keep living like this”, with Judge Furlong responding “absolutely not”.
He granted the woman a protection order on an ex-parte basis (one side only represented) which prohibits her former partner from using or threatening to use violence.
A full hearing, which the woman’s ex-partner is expected to attend, was set for a later date.
Judge Furlong also told the woman he had “no way” of dealing with the man’s mother “or anyone else who was in that car” in the family court. He said they were “matters for the gardaí”, but that given the repetitive nature of the incidents, the woman may seek to apply for a restraining order against the man’s mother or for gardaí to seek one on her behalf.
In a separate case, an older woman secured an interim barring order against two of her adult sons after she told the court a bag of ketamine belonging to one of them was found in her grandson’s bedroom in her home.
The woman told the court her younger son has been struggling with drug addiction for years and has become “more and more volatile and aggressive”.
She said he shows up to her home every few days “under the influence of substances”. The woman said she asks him to leave peacefully, but he refuses to do so and takes over her grandson’s bedroom, who lives with her along with his mother.
She said “a bag of powder-like substance” that her younger son had been consuming was found in her grandson’s drawer. He admitted “it was a drug called Ketamine”.
“This poses a huge risk to my grandson’s life,” the woman told the court.
She said her older son has also been “going down a path of substance abuse” for a few years and in doing so has become “aggressive and violent” towards her and her daughter.
She said he recently arrived at her home “under the influence of substances” and her daughter refused him entry.
“He threatened to put my grandson’s scooter through the window and smash my daughter’s car up,” she said.
“We are living with so much anxiety and stress that he will arrive at our door and in what state, you don’t know. I need to protect myself, my daughter and grandson.”
Judge Furlong said he did not believe a protection order “would be enough” in either circumstances and granted the woman interim barring orders on an ex-parte basis against both sons.
An interim barring order excludes both men from the family home for eight days and from watching or being near it.
Two separate hearings, which the women’s sons are expected to attend, were set for later this month. During those full hearings, the woman can apply for barring orders for up to three years.
