Man (90) living in fear of daughter granted safety order

Daughter threw rolled-up carpet at him, forcing him to seek emergency accommodation

A 90-year-old man has told a court he was forced to stay in emergency accommodation after his daughter threw a piece of carpet at him.

The man told Dublin District Family Court on Wednesday he is fearful for his safety due to his daughter’s behaviour and was granted a protection order. The court heard the man’s daughter had been living with him until recently and suffers from alcohol addiction.

The man said his daughter is “extremely prickly” and becomes angry when he says certain things.

He told the court his daughter became angry with him two weeks ago, picked up a rolled-up piece of carpet and threw it at him.

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The man said he had to stay in emergency accommodation as he was fearful for his safety. His daughter has since moved out of his home. The man was present in court; his daughter was not.

Judge Gerard Furlong granted a temporary safety order which prohibits the person against whom the order is made from engaging in violence or threats of violence.

He set a full hearing, which the woman is expected to attend, for July.

Physically assaulted

Separately, three sisters were granted protection orders against their brother, aged in his 20s, who they said has physically assaulted each of them on numerous occasions.

One of the sisters said in a written statement to the court that her brother had tried to “stick the door key into my neck” on Tuesday.

She said her brother attacked her and she tried to leave the family home but he locked her in.

Another sister said their brother is “very aggressive” and has attacked her on “many occasions”. She told the court she had to attend the hospital over a year ago after the young man “put my head through the banister”.

In a written statement to the court, she said last Tuesday her brother “grabbed me by the throat, poured water over me and punched me in the stomach”.

The third sister said she had a disagreement with her brother about taking a shower last week and he took her belongings and “ran at me”.

Making threats

She said her brother started making threats that he would “smash my head in” and she locked herself in a room. She told the court she is afraid of her brother and that previously he had thrown her down the stairs “over shampoo that he said was his”.

She said on a separate occasion he punched her in the back of the head and that she is in a “constant state of fear” around her brother and that his behaviour is unpredictable.

Judge Furlong granted all three women temporary safety orders and set full hearings for July.

Sarah Burns

Sarah Burns

Sarah Burns is a reporter for The Irish Times