A woman who said her husband of 17 years grabbed her by the throat and tried to strangle her has been granted a safety order.
The Dublin District Family Court heard on Thursday the couple have four children together.
In a written statement to the court, the woman said her husband had been drinking on Wednesday afternoon and was being intimidating towards her.
She said her husband was “trying to loaf me and grab me by the throat” and she asked him to leave the family home. He then grabbed her by the throat, threw her to the floor and began strangling her, she said. Her husband stopped when the gardaí arrived but subsequently “loafed me across the head”.
The woman, who made a one-side only application, said this was the first time her husband had been violent towards her during 17 years of marriage.
“He has been aggressive, but never violent in all the years we’ve been together,” she said.
Judge Gerard Furlong said he would grant the safety order “without hesitation” and that “this is a very serious set of circumstances”. He told the woman “if this order does not work, be aware you can apply for an interim barring order”.
A safety order prohibits the person against whom the order is made from engaging in violence or threats of violence. It does not oblige that person to leave the family home. A barring order requires the violent person to leave the family home.
The woman said her husband is now living with his mother. Judge Furlong said the safety order “does not compel him to live in his mother’s”.
“I just want to feel safe in my own home,” the woman said.
Maintenance payments
Separately, a father who owes €6,260 in maintenance payments was told he would be going to prison if he did not pay €40 every week to the mother of their young daughter.
The young man was ordered to pay €25 every week last November but failed to meet the payments. The man, who is unemployed, said he paid his daughter’s mother €100 in a once-off payment before Christmas.
He said his social welfare had been cut from €188 to €127 per week and that he had received no Christmas bonus. The man also said he had recently moved and struggled to get to the bank and pleaded with Judge Furlong not to send him to prison.
“I want to pay maintenance for my daughter, it’s only because my money was cut . . . Give me a chance . . . I won’t let you down,” he said.
The judge said “You face imprisonment for not paying this.
“You haven’t been doing it. There’s no bouquet of flowers for lobbing in €100 at Christmas,” he said.
“You’re not letting me down, you’re letting your child down . . . This has been going on for a long time. You’ve been warned.”
The judge gave the man a formal warning and ordered him to pay €20 maintenance and an extra €20 for arrears of maintenance every week.
“You are likely and probably going to prison if you breach this order,” the judge said. He said the matter would be reviewed again in June.
Upon leaving the court, the judge called the man back and asked “What’s this kind of dismissive shaking of your head?”
“I won’t take any attitude of you shaking your head,” he said. “Don’t ever do that in this court again. You won’t make a mockery of this court twice. You’ve already done it before.”
