No hospital bed for adult son ‘threatening to kill’ parents, court told

A couple has sought court protection from their adult son, who has mental-health issues, after they were informed no bed was available for him at an inpatient unit.

The couple told Dublin District Family Court on Wednesday their son had been threatening them on the phone and most recently has been "saying things like he is going to kill us".

The couple said their son, who was not present in court, was previously an inpatient in hospital for a number of weeks. He was waiting to go back into the unit but was told there was no bed available, they said.

The couple also said they were frightened “he might follow through on his threats”. They said normally he could be “very good” but he was currently not well.

“We just need protection at this time,” the man’s father told the court.

The couple live with their son but he is currently staying elsewhere. “He’s not going to be able to come home until he goes to hospital,” the man’s mother said. “He’s so angry.”

Judge Gerard Furlong granted the couple a protection order on an ex-parte (one side only represented) basis, which prohibits their son from using or threatening to use violence. A full hearing was set for a later date.

Safety order

In a separate case, a woman secured a two-year safety order against her husband. In a sworn statement to the court, the woman said her husband had beaten her before Christmas and that it was not the first time.

The woman said they had gone to a nightclub and had got into an argument as her husband had thought she was “flirting with another man”.

The woman said they left the nightclub and continued arguing on the street. She said her husband hit her once in the face with his fist and she fell to the ground.

“I split my nose on the path when I fell,” the woman said. She said she also had a black eye which she assumed was “from the hit”.

The woman said this had happened previously but only when her husband had drunk alcohol. “He is drinking a lot . . . often enough,” the woman said.

The woman’s husband said he was agreeable to the safety order but that what his wife had told the court was “not 100 per cent correct”.

The man denied hitting his wife with his fist and said he had slapped her with his palm but agreed that she had fallen to the ground.

The judge granted the woman a two-year safety order, which prohibits her husband from using or threatening to use violence.

In a separate case, a woman told the court her former partner had been pushing to see their child and that he kept showing up to her home without warning. The woman said the man stayed outside her home “watching” and that he had previously thrown stones at her old apartment so that she knew he was there. The man did not show up for the court hearing.

The woman said there had been an incident a few years ago when she had allowed the man to stay at her home and that he had “started to barricade the windows and doors”. The woman told the court he had said he was protecting them by doing this and that she thought he had mental-health issues.

“I am really scared when he shows up,” the woman said. The judge granted the woman a two-year safety order and said that if the man wished to see his child he should bring a case before the court.