A young man duct taped his mother’s and sister’s mouth and bound their hands in their home just days before Christmas, a court has heard.
His mother had been granted a barring order at Dublin District Family Court on Friday.
The woman told the court her son is a drug addict who lives with her and her daughter and that he is “very violent” towards them.
She told the court her son was demanding money and “threatening to kill us” on December 15th. She said she was advised by gardaí to leave the family home as her son was “too dangerous” and stayed in a B&B that night.
The woman said she could not afford to remain in a B&B and returned home the following day. She said her son, who is “much stronger”, then put duct tape over her and her daughter’s mouth and tied their hands.
The court heard the woman was granted an interim barring order against her son on Christmas Eve, which required him to leave the family home. However, she told the court the order was not served on him immediately despite her calling to her local Garda station on December 24th and making numerous calls over the next day.
The woman said she phoned gardaí on the morning of Christmas Day after her son began demanding money. She said her son heard her making the phone call in the bathroom and used a screwdriver to open the door and demand the phone.
The woman said she hid her phone on her body and her son began pushing her. She said he put his hand over her mouth and then put a bread knife against her neck and face.
The woman said her son’s friends were in the house and they were screaming at him, telling him to stop. She said her son ran off before gardaí arrived. He returned to the home later that night and she called the gardaí again, who subsequently arrested him and served him with the order.
Son’s ‘blurred memory’ of events
The woman’s son told the court he takes prescribed medication and because of this has a “blurred memory”. He said he had previously demanded money but on December 16th was not looking for money, but instead for “things to be fine”.
He said his sister had left her Facebook account open on his laptop and he saw messages from her to their father telling him not to send her brother any money. The man said he was annoyed and used duct tape to "put around their hands" and told them "listen to what I'm saying for once".
Judge Gerard Furlong asked the man did he realise the seriousness of his behaviour and that he was "holding them prisoner" in their own home.
The man replied that on Christmas Day he demanded his mother give him her phone and pushed her on to a couch. He said he did not have a knife against her neck but that his nails are long, adding “I’ve scratched lots of people” and that his mother was “exaggerating a bit”.
The judge granted a barring order for one year and said the mother could apply for an order lasting up to three years.
Gardaí from the woman’s local station appeared before the judge after he raised concerns as to why the order was not served immediately. They said they had attended the woman’s home on Christmas Eve to serve the man with the interim order, but he was not there.
The judge thanked them for this clarification.
