Woman says ex-partner threatened family would be ‘burnt alive’

A woman has told a court that her former partner threatened that she and their two children would be “burnt alive” in the family home.

The woman was granted an emergency order on an ex-parte (one side only) basis at Dublin District Family Court on Thursday, barring the man from the family home for eight working days.

The woman said her former partner abuses alcohol and cocaine. She said he would come home under the influence and was “making our lives hell”.

The court heard the woman was previously granted a protection order, which prohibits the man from using or threatening to use violence.

The woman said she didn’t call gardaí when her former partner breached the protection order because “he said if I called the guards I will be burnt alive in the house with our two kids”.

“I need him to be removed for our own safety,” she said. The woman said she wakes up with “him standing over me” and the man had got into their son’s bed naked when he was drunk.

Alcohol and drugs

She said the man sometimes left for two or three days and came back under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

“He abuses us and chases us around the house...we’re terrified of him,” she said.

The home in which they all live is in the man’s name and there are ongoing court proceedings in relation to this, the woman said.

Judge Gerard Furlong granted the woman an emergency barring order and said there was a "significant and serious" threat being made to the woman and children.