Woman secures barring order against husband who ‘threatened to kill me and the children’

A woman who alleged that her husband threatened to kill them both and their children has secured an interim barring order.

The woman, who sought the order ex-parte (one side only represented), at Dublin District Family Court said the man had previously “held us under threat with a hunting knife”.

The court was told the woman had previously secured a barring order against her husband that had recently expired. The woman said although the man is living in another jurisdiction, she was now “terrified” he would return to the family home since the order had lapsed.

The woman said her husband had been diagnosed with a mental condition and multiple times had “threatened to kill himself, kill me and kill the children”, and also collected hunting knives.

“He held us under threat with a hunting knife. The kids were under the kitchen table and I was trying to protect them in front of the kitchen table,” she said.

“He frequently wished that we were all dead, that him and the kids never existed. He was what you would describe as a house devil and a street angel.”

The woman said her husband had “grabbed me physically” and used to kick in presses in the house and punch holes in the wall. She told the court she lived in “constant fear” and was trying to protect her children “as much as I could from his mental instability”.

She described the family home as “miserable and scary” while her husband lived there and that by the time he left, she was “a broken woman”.

The woman said her husband had indicated to their children during a recent video call he would be returning back to Ireland and she “absolutely” believed he could come back to the family home “at any time”.

“I am terrified he will carry through the threat of killing us because he doesn’t let go of things from his past,” she said.

“He really does believe that the kids are his possessions … If he did come back, I would have to run with the kids. I could not do this to them.”

The woman said she and her children were undergoing counselling and “still trying to recover from what we lived with in the home”. She said her children deserved “a happy, safe and healthy home”.

Legal representation for the woman added that the man’s name was on the family home and there was currently no order in place to stop him from going there.

Judge Susan Fay noted it was “unusual” to seek an order when the respondent was currently residing outside the jurisdiction.

However, Judge Fay said, having carefully considered the woman’s evidence and factors set out under the Domestic Violence Act 2018, she was satisfied there was “an immediate risk” to the woman and her dependent children to grant an interim barring order.

The order excludes the man from the family home for eight days, and from watching or being near it, with a full hearing set for a later date.

Judge Fay said the man should attend the hearing in person if he is in the jurisdiction at that time but if not, he was permitted to give evidence via video link.