A mother wept in court on Saturday as she claimed she was forced “to take matters into my own hands” after she accused a man of sexually abusing her son.
The distraught woman appeared before Judge Gerard Jones at Dublin District Court.
She was charged with criminal damage offences at the man’s home in Leinster on two dates this month.
Judge Jones heard she made no reply when the charges were put to her at a Garda station.
However, the woman told the court: “The only reason I went to that fella’s house is that he put my son in a paedophile ring”.
She claimed that as a result, the boy, in his mid-teens, had been abused by men and has since engaged in incidents of self-harm.
Sobbing, she said, “I’ll never be okay again.”
“I called at the location because he is a paedophile; he has been trying to get my son to sleep with him since he was 13.”
She said the man was in his 50s, adding, “he introduced my son to Grindr”, referring to a dating app.
“I have to face this p**** every day,” she said. “Excuse my language, but I’ve no other words for him.”
She told the judge: “I’m not a criminal. You can check my record. This is what happens to you for protecting my child; I don’t agree with it, I don’t agree with this system.”
Judge Jones asked if she had consulted a solicitor to investigate matters about her son.
The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she did not need a lawyer and was in the middle of “having it sorted”. Questioned by the judge about that remark, she explained she had obtained psychiatric treatment for her son.
“Maybe if the guards caught the paedophiles, it would not be up to the parents to do it,” she said.
“After all, it’s the guards’ job; maybe if they did it, I wouldn’t have to take matters into my own hands.”
Judge Jones remanded her on bail with conditions to stay away from the scene of the criminal damage incidents.
The case continues in July.