A man with alleged mental health and drug problems who was temporarily barred from his family home over behaviour putting his wife and daughter in fear can return home after agreeing to a conditional safety order.
The man’s wife told the emergency domestic violence court his aggressive and disruptive behaviour in the home puts herself and their daughter in fear and he refuses to recognise he needs help.
She had obtained an interim barring order ex parte (one side only represented) earlier this month and the matter was back in the court at Dolphin House, Dublin, on Friday when both parties attended.
The man told Judge Stephanie Coggans he accepted there were issues with his behaviour and he had undergone “a full detox” since the interim barring order was granted. “I don’t want them living in fear, I’m supposed to be protecting them,” he said.
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Asked was she seeking a full barring order or a safety order, the woman said that “depends on what he does”. She added: “I don’t want to be in the same position again.”
The man, who was staying with his mother since the interim barring order was granted, said he would agree to whatever his wife wished.
After both had a brief discussion outside court with their daughter, the matter resumed. The woman said the discussion was “not great”, her husband was “very angry”, had filmed and recorded her at home and refuses to recognise he needs help for mental health issues.
She did not wish to bar him, “he has to see his daughter”, but she did not “feel 100 per cent safe” and would move into their daughter’s bedroom and he could have their bedroom.
The judge granted a safety order on conditions including restraining the man from consuming alcohol or drugs, engaging in aggressive behaviour or filming/recording his wife in the home.
The man said he agreed and added: “It’s not 100 per cent just me.”
When he asked did the order also apply to his wife, the judge said no, as he had not sought any order against her. The judge, saying she was “running out of patience”, told the man he could not come in, agreed he behaved badly “and then start again”.
The case was among more than 20 before the court on Friday.
A young woman with a baby got a protection order against her ex-partner whom she alleged previously tried to take the baby. “He told me, if you don’t kill yourself, I’ll put you in a coffin.” He attacked her during her pregnancy, told her he would “throw acid in my face if I did not let him see the baby” and there was “a €500 price on my head”, she said. “The DPP has a big file on him.”
The judge told her, when the protection order is due back before the court, she could ask gardaí to come to court with her.
Several applications were by parents for orders against their adult children over behaviour linked to mental health problems and/or alcohol and/or drugs.
A father got a protection order against his son, aged in his 20s, with mental health and drug problems. “He’s on cocaine, they’re all on it,” he said. His son needs mental health treatment but has not been properly assessed and is constantly “palmed off” with medication, he said.
The man said he works part-time, has no medical insurance, and had been told it would “cost a fortune” to get his son, who has never worked, the help required.
Granting the order, the judge told the man she hoped his son would get better. “I don’t think he will,” the man replied.
