A woman who posted details of a physical assault she suffered at the hands of her father on Facebook has been criticised by a judge.
At the family court, Judge Patrick Durcan said it is accepted that the woman (22) was physically abused by her father when she was 13.
He said her decision to post the information on Facebook “was the most appalling and improper behaviour.” He described the woman’s actions as “nothing short of reprehensible”.
“This case points to the abuse that social media can be put to,” he said. “This is one of the saddest cases I ever have had the duty to listen to. It is extremely sad to see a family so fractured, so damaged and so embittered.”
In the case, the father was seeking the protection of the courts from his daughter where he was applying for a Safety Order against her.
Ann Walsh, solicitor for the man, said the Safety Order application was triggered by the Facebook post.
The man contacted local gardaí after he was made aware of the Facebook post and gardaí made contact with the woman, who had deleted the post by then.
“I want a public apology from her put up on Facebook for what she did,” the man said.
Judge Durcan refused the Safety Order application stating that it had not reached the threshold of evidence required.
‘Cry for help’
The woman described the Facebook post as “a cry for help”. She said her mother never believed her concerning an incident when she was 13 when her father grabbed her by the throat.
“We were in our kitchen a few Sundays ago where he admitted to trying to strangle me at home. I posted on Facebook because I just wanted his family to know,” she said.
“I didn’t name him but I said on Facebook, ‘what kind of father strangles his own daughter and after all of these years is after admitting it?’”
Ms Walsh said there had been no abuse but that there was an incident when her client “admits that he caught you by the throat”.
The man admitted catching his daughter by the throat when she was 13 “after she called me ‘an alcoholic bastard and that I need to go away and get treatment for yourself’ and I was on my way to treatment at the time.”
Under cross examination, the man admitted to recently leaving his wife after having an affair with another woman. He told the court his daughter threatened him with a knife, a claim strenuously denied by his daughter.
