A woman who claimed her ex-husband has threatened to stab her if she goes ahead with a plan to sell their former home has secured a protection order against him.
The woman told the District Family Court in Dolphin House, Dublin that she and her husband were married for many years before they separated some years ago. She was homeless for five years after their separation but is now in an apartment with her adolescent daughter.
Her ex-husband lives in their former home but the woman got an order for the sale of that property which is “in arrears” and must be sold. However, she said he is making the sale “very awkward” and “doing all he can to stop it”.
When a viewing was arranged recently, she said the man sent two men “to intimidate” her.
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Her ex told their daughter he will “get me” if the house sale proceeds, she said. The man carries a knife and has threatened to stab her if she goes ahead with the sale, she said, adding that her daughter is also in fear of the man and has recorded a voice note on her phone of him making threats.
The woman was “very fearful” of her husband at stages during their marriage but did not take any steps about that because the children were young, she said.
Judge William Aylmer, who dealt with this and about 20 other ex parte (one side only represented) applications under the Domestic Violence Act on Friday, granted the woman a protection order which he said would protect her and her daughter. The matter will return to court in three months when the man is entitled to set out his position.
In another application, a tearful pregnant young woman secured an interim barring order against her former partner.
She alleged he is doing drugs and has not accepted that their relationship, which she recently ended, is over and he keeps communicating with her and saying he will come to the house.
“I don’t think he’s a bad person but he is doing heavy drugs,” she said.
Money has gone missing from the house, which is in her name, and she had found tablets in a bag.
The woman said her baby is due soon and it is a high risk pregnancy.
“I can’t eat, or anything, I can’t sleep. I just want to be left in peace.”
In a different case, a woman obtained an interim barring order against her adult son, aged in his 20s, after saying he had in recent days threatened to kill her, smashed her phone and TV and spray painted walls in the house.
“He smokes weed, I don’t know what’s going on in his brain, he seems to be getting crazier every day,” she said.
She said her son is a big man who does a lot of gym work and may also be on steroids. She and her other adult children are all “terrified” of him.
After the incident some days ago, the woman fled her home and went to her mother’s. She said she did not want to return to her home without a barring order.
In another application, a man who said his former partner has mental health issues and had threatened him with a knife a few years ago while holding their then infant child secured another protection order against the woman. Both had previously secured protection orders against each other, the judge was told.
The man said his child is now four-years-old but it has been more than two years since he has seen the child. He has concerns about the child, and has brought access applications, but his ex has breached access orders and threatened him. He said he wanted another protection order because the existing order expired last month.
A protection order was also granted to a young woman who alleged her ex, aged in his 30s, has been pestering her on a near daily basis since they broke up several months ago.
The woman cried while telling the judge her ex phones her constantly, regularly posts material about her on social media and turns up at her home uninvited.
“It makes me feel very bad, it is non-stop,” she said.
During their relationship, she said she was afraid of the man on one occasion when he hid her phone and would not let her leave his house.
“I just want him to leave me alone. I think he’s very mentally unwell, that’s why I’m so scared.”
Judge Aylmer told her harassment is an offence and it was open to her to make a separate complaint to gardaí about the man’s behaviour.
In a different case, a father, accompanied by his wife, obtained a protection order against his adult son after telling the judge both parents are in fear of him. Their son, aged in his 20s, is a “grand fellow, but not when he is on drink and drugs”, the man said.
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