A woman allegedly subject to threats, monitoring and intimidation in her home by her estranged husband and three adult sons has secured interim barring orders against all of them.
The woman said she has no cooking or washing facilities, that even the banisters in the house have been removed, that any food she buys is thrown out, and that shards of glass were put in her make-up brushes.
She effectively has “no home” and stays in her bedroom “because I’m so afraid”, she told Dublin District family court in Dolphin House.
“It is inhumane the way I’m being forced to live.”
If she leaves the bedroom to go to the bathroom, she is met by her sons, who “pull themselves up their full height and stand with clenched fists”.
Her sons have never worked, sleep all day and bring people into the house to stay up all night drinking and smoking weed, she said.
The woman is seeking a divorce, but her estranged husband, as well as threatening her, regularly speaks to her suggestively using sexual innuendo, she added.
He and her sons “are involved in things that I am not”, she said, and tensions had “increased dramatically” and “gone overboard” since she obtained safety orders some weeks ago.
She said she is dealing with “aggressive males who see me as a hindrance”, and that the situation is “intolerable”.
Gardaí had spoken to her husband and sons on foot of complaints made by her, “but have never taken my side”.
On foot of the woman’s evidence and sworn information, Judge Monika Leech granted interim barring orders (IBOs) against the husband and sons.
She was satisfied there was an immediate risk of significant harm, the judge said.
The orders are returnable within eight days when the respondents are entitled to be heard, after which the court will either lift or continue them.
The woman’s application, made ex parte (one side only represented), was among about 40 applications before the court on Tuesday, including about 25 under the Domestic Violence Act. At one point, there was a queue of people extending outside the premises, which houses five family courts.
In another case, a very distressed woman with facial injuries secured an interim barring order against her ex-partner, who she alleged is preventing her from seeing their daughter or returning to her home, which she solely owns.
The former partner lived nearby with his mother, and she has been out of her home since the alleged assault several days ago, she said. He had taken her phone, although he knows she needs that to issue alerts about taking necessary medication, she said.
She reported the alleged assault to three Garda stations, but was told they could take no action against the man, she said.
In tears, the woman said she was “going through hell”. When the judge asked had anyone come with her to court to support her, she replied: “I don’t have anybody.”
In a different case, a mother who said she feared she was “going to die” after her adult son allegedly hit her in the face, threw her to the ground and put his knees on her neck, secured an interim barring order against him.
Aged in his 30s, her son is a chronic alcoholic and a “danger to society” who she fears could have killed because of his drink driving, the woman said. There was an “endless” list of drink driving cases involving him and he is currently banned from driving, she said.
In her ex parte application, the woman said she has endured 20 years of her son abusing drink, being in and out of the court system, being violent on occasions to her and other family members, and “smashing the house up”.
Becoming upset, she said he worked for many years until he lost his job after he began drinking during the day.
He has mainly lived with her but she can no longer deal with him, she said. He drinks until he passes out and, although he tries not to be violent “because he is in so much trouble with the courts”, she and other family members are afraid to say or do anything that might trigger him. ”My fear is, I know what he is capable of.”
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