‘He just started smashing things.’ Woman who slept in her car gets barring order against son

A woman has been granted an interim barring order against her son after she told a court he had woken her up in the middle of the night and started smashing up her bedroom, and that she had to sleep in her car as a result.

The woman, who appeared before Dublin District Family Court, said her adult son was “violent and very unstable”.

In a sworn statement to the court on Friday, the woman said she “really” needed to have him removed from her home.

The woman said her son drinks “bottles of vodka” and had come home drunk on Thursday night.

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“He woke me up and told me about 2.45am he was in trouble, and I knew when he woke me up that I was going to be in trouble,” she said.

“He just started smashing things, he’s smashing things all the time. He’s smashing my house continuously.”

The woman said she left her house at 3am and spent the night in her car “again”.

“I’m sitting here now and I’m absolutely exhausted. I’m in my pyjamas, I was in the car all night,” she said.

The woman said her son had previously threatened that he would kill her if she called gardaí on him.

Judge Gerard Furlong granted the woman an interim barring order on an ex parte (one side represented only) basis, which excludes her son from the property for eight days, and from watching or being near it.

A full hearing, which the woman’s son is expected to attend, was set for a date later this month.

Judge Furlong told the woman her son would be “put out of the house” and was “not to have any contact with you whatsoever”.

The court heard interim barring orders had been granted to the woman against her son on two occasions previously, but she had not turned up to later hearings and the orders had subsequently expired.

The woman said she had not turned up to the hearings as she was “trying to give him [her son] a chance”, but that this time she would “definitely come back”.

In a separate case, a woman secured a protection order on an ex parte basis against her former partner after she told the court he had “loafed me on a public street”.

The woman said the man, who was not present in court, had engaged in threatening and abusive harassment. She said they had one child together.

She said earlier this month the man had “loafed” and kicked her, which had resulted in a lump on her head and bad bruising on her knees and shins.

Judge Furlong said he was “without hesitation” granting a protection order, which prohibits the man from using or threatening to use violence. The judge said because the couple have a child together, communication was allowed but only in relation to access.

A full hearing, which the man is expected to attend, was set for a later date.