Elderly woman granted barring order against ‘abusive’ son

An elderly woman who said her adult son threw her crutch at her has been granted a temporary barring order.

The woman said her son lives with her and “drinks an awful lot”, is very abusive and has grabbed her by the arms leaving her with bruises.

“I can’t control him when he gets into a rage,” she told Dublin District Family Court on Thursday. The woman is currently sick in hospital but is due to return home in the coming days.

In a written statement to the court, she said: “He has woken me during the night roaring and shouting and I have given him money. He has thrown my crutch at me and he fired a knife at his brother while I was there.”

The woman said the gardaí were previously called as “he was breaking up the place” and they pepper-sprayed him. She told the court her son was “full of anger” and that she was in fear and therefore sought a barring order.

“We have a lump hammer in the house and if he gets angry he might use that. I think my husband had it for some reason, it’s there years,” she said.

The woman said that seeking a barring order was “something she didn’t like having to do” but she was afraid to return home while he was still there.

Judge Gerard Furlong granted an interim barring order, banning the woman’s son from her home, from any further violence or threats of violence and from watching or being near the home. He adjourned proceedings until later this month.

Smashed bottle

Separately, a woman was granted a barring order against her former partner who smashed a bottle over her head and tried to put a cigarette out on her face.

In a written statement to the court, the woman said she had been seeing the man for around a year and he moved in with her.

She said earlier this year he got very drunk, “tried to put out a fag on my face, smashed a bottle over my head, reefed my hair and was trying to strangle me”.

She said the man broke three televisions, smashed a set of table and chairs as well as everything in her son’s room. She said the man had been violent in the past and had broken her nose on a previous occasion.

The man, who was also present in court, said he was agreeable to the barring order but wanted stuff he had left in her home back. The woman said her landlord had since thrown out his belongings.

“How would she [the landlord] know what’s my stuff?” the man asked. “It’s lies, I bet the stuff is still there.”

Judge Furlong said, “Well, you won’t be able to find out with this barring order in place.”

Clawed at his arm

In a separate case, a man was granted a protection order against his ex-wife who he said threatened to kill both him and his current wife.

In a written statement to the court, the man said last week he had been texting his ex-wife regarding access to their son. He said it got quite heated and his ex-wife said she would be over to “sort this out”.

The man said when he returned home to his current wife, his ex-wife was waiting in the neighbour’s garden. He said she slapped his current wife and he tried to restrain her and get her out of their garden.

The man said he managed to close the garden gate but his ex-wife clawed at his arm leaving him with visible scrape marks.

“She also threatened to kill both of us stone dead,” he said. “I reported this to the gardaí. I am fearful of what she will do next and seek a protection order.”

Judge Furlong granted a temporary protection order which prohibits the person against whom the order is made from engaging in violence or threats of violence and set a full hearing for September.