A man who allegedly inflicted “extensive and horrendous” bruising on his wife has had a temporary barring order continued against him.
The woman told Dublin District Family Court she had fallen asleep in the afternoon next to their baby and the man woke her by beating her head, grabbing her hair and shaking her.
The man’s mother lives with them and, earlier that same day, when the woman had twice asked if she was hungry, the mother had said she was not.
However, she said that when her husband woke her, he said: “You bitch, you’re starving my mother.”
The woman said he was shouting so much the baby woke up and started crying. His mother then came in to the bedroom and told her she was an “ignorant woman”, started laughing at her and her husband punched her again as she had the baby in her arms, she added.
The woman told Judge Catherine Ghent that photographs taken of her body, which were provided to the court, reflected her injuries.
Her husband also tried to strangle her but her older sons managed to hold him back and she got away from him, she said.
The woman said the man has not been physically violent towards the baby, but on one occasion when the child was crying he shouted: “Shut up little girl before I bang your head.”
Judge Ghent was told by barrister Ryan Savage, for the woman, that she previously obtained an interim barring order ex parte (one side only represented) and was back in court seeking a full barring order.
The man is in custody on a charge of assault and was served with notice of her barring order application, counsel said.
The judge said she was adjourning the full order application because the man was entitled to an opportunity to seek a production order allowing him to attend court for that hearing.
On foot of the evidence, and the photos showing “extensive and horrendous bruising”, the judge said she was continuing the temporary order until the matter returns to court later this month.
In another case heard at Dolphin House in Dublin, a mother got a three-year barring order against her adult son, aged in his 40s.
During a recent incident, the court heard, he demanded that she give him €20, punched her around the shoulder area and stamped on her feet while she was sitting on the couch.
Her son has used drugs over the years and his veins had collapsed from injecting, the woman said. He had told her he was on methadone and was seeking admission to a residential addiction treatment centre.
Both their names are on the lease for their apartment but he has not contributed to rent or household expenses for years and she has ongoing problems with him demanding money from her, she said.
There were issues with their landlord over her son having people drinking in their apartment and she did not want him there any more as he was “too much trouble”.
Her counsel said that after the son was served with an interim barring order over the recent incident, he breached it and grabbed her phone from her when she rang gardaí, who were able to hear what was said and came to arrest him.
Counsel said it appeared he had been released on bail, though his mother does not know where he is sleeping, but she has been “bombarded” with calls and messages from him.
He had been served with the full barring order application and had not turned up in court.
The judge said she was satisfied to grant a three-year barring order and directed gardaí to take steps to locate the man.
