A woman whose “threatening” ex-partner sent a recording of her young daughter crying while she was in his care has been granted a temporary protection order until Tusla can investigate the child’s welfare.
The mother told Dublin District Family Court that she and her ex-partner separated more than a year ago but lived together with their child until earlier this year, from which point she “couldn’t take it any more”.
She told Judge William Aylmer “things got mad, crazy”, claiming her ex-partner installed cameras “all over the house, inside the house”.
She alleged he wears Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses which he uses to record video footage “all the time”.
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“He’s recording me when he comes to drop her off and collect her and he sends me the clips,” she said.
Since she and her daughter left, she claimed she has been receiving “threatening” messages from him. In the messages, she alleges he said “this won’t bode well for you” and “what’s going to happen now are consequences of your actions. Don’t say I didn’t warn you”.
The woman said her daughter, aged under 10, stays with him once a week and that she did not have concerns for her welfare “up until recently”.
She played an audio clip she had received by email from her ex-partner the day prior, in which her upset daughter could be heard crying.
“His behaviour is just so mad,” the woman said while crying at the witness stand on Friday.
Asked whether she had considered not letting her daughter visit her ex-partner, she said she does “not want to do that to her” or affect her routine.
Noting he had a concern for the child’s welfare after hearing the evidence, the judge said he would direct Tusla to carry out a section 20 report, which involves a social worker undertaking an investigation of the child’s welfare.
This would take some time to prepare, he said as he granted a temporary protection order for the mother and her daughter. He made the order while only the woman was present in court and without hearing the ex-partner’s response to her claims.
A protection order, which can be granted if a judge believes there is an immediate risk of significant harm, directs a person to stop committing or threatening violence against someone.
In a separate case on Friday morning, a woman sought a protection order against the father of her newborn baby. She claimed her ex-partner was emotionally abusive and cannot control his anger.
She told the judge she gave birth last month and was afraid of the man from whom she separated in recent months.
“There the relationship continued, and I was pregnant, the worse his behaviour got. He could not control his anger and would punch and kick the furniture around the house,” she said.
“He would call me names, he would ask where I was, who I was with at all times. I would wake up and he would be going through my phone and my chats,” she said.
On several occasions throughout their relationship, her ex-partner would prevent her from exiting rooms during arguments, she claimed.
“The more I look at my daughter, the more I don’t feel that it’s safe for him to be around her,” she said.
The judge granted a temporary protection order and limited the man’s communication regarding his child to the woman’s mother only. The man was not present in court during the woman’s application.
The judge said that if the man wishes to gain access to his child, and if the woman is not volunteering it, he must come to court to seek it.
