Elderly woman ‘lawfully detained in care’, judge rules

An elderly woman who was taken from her home by gardaí after being found in pain and lying in unsanitary conditions, is being lawfully detained in a care facility, a High Court judge has ruled.

Mr Justice Bernard Barton said orders of the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, putting the woman (76) in a secure facility for her own protection were without legal blemish or infirmity and were in no way invalid.

Mr Justice Barton dismissed an application by her son for an order of habeas corpus (unlawful detention) and the release of his mother back into the care of him and his father.

The judge said the Court of Appeal had dealt with an application by the son against the orders of Mr Justice Kelly and the appeal court had directed that the matter revert to the High Court for further consideration.

In a reserved decision, Mr Justice Barton said Mr Justice Kelly had been satisfied the woman was of unsound mind and incapable of managing her property and made her a ward of court.

He said the Court of Appeal had required him to inquire into the lawfulness of the detention of a citizen who had been brought into wardship and placed in a secure community facility for her own protection.

“This court is concerned only with the lawfulness of the current detention or placement of the woman in a specific community home and whether or not that placement was lawful,” Mr Justice Barton said.

‘Repugnant’

“Her son, who wants her returned to her care and that of her husband, had been overheard to threaten his mother and abuse her in the most foul and repugnant language.”

He said there had been a threat of violence from her son who had threatened to kill her by putting a pillow over her head or his hand over her mouth.

“I am satisfied there is a long line of authority going back to pre-independence days confirming that the jurisdiction to detain someone in wardship is now vested in the High Court,” the judge said.

In earlier hearings relating to the woman’s case, the High Court heard the son had been secretly recorded threatening and verbally abusing his mother, who suffers from dementia. He had physically attempted to remove her from a hospital where she was being treated and had to be restrained from doing so.

The court had also been told that the woman’s husband had been complicit in seeking to interfere with the woman’s care and treatment.

Mr Justice Kelly had earlier made an order restraining both son and father from visiting the woman who had since been changed to a new care facility.

At the time of making that order Mr Justice Kelly said the medical evidence suggested the woman did not have a lot of time left in the world and it was a matter of great sadness that some members of her family appeared to be making her life more distressing that it already was.