Family Court: Fathers seek protection from violent sons

Two fathers seeking protection from their adult sons were among the domestic violence applications before Dublin District Family Court on Monday.

One father, in his 60s, limped into court with his arm in a sling and with cuts on his face. He told Judge Gerard Furlong his son, in his 30s, had dislocated his shoulder.

He said his son lived at home, with him and his wife, and had a drink and drug problem. On Sunday morning from 6am, his son was annoying him to get out of bed and eventually “lashed out”, said the father.

“He threw a punch to my head, he dislocated my shoulder, he kept punching me,” said the father.

He told the judge he had to go to hospital and they had to put his shoulder back in twice.

“He is always threatening me; he stuck a steak knife into me a few years ago . . . he hit one of my kidneys.”

He told the court his son was not in Dublin at present, but he knew where he was.

Judge Furlong granted the man an interim barring order to last for eight days. It requires the son to stay away from the family home and not to use or threaten to use violence against his father.

The judge said the case would come back to court next week to consider a longer-term order, and the son would have an opportunity to tell his side of the story.

He advised the father to bring medical notes for the next hearing.

“If he comes up to the house, tell gardaí,” said the judge.

Abusive

In a separate case, a father sought a longer-term barring order against his son after being granted a temporary protection order earlier this month.

The father said his son, in his 30s, had been abusive to him and his wife and had told him he would “have no existence”, in the area in which they lived. He took this to mean he would get his friends after him.

He had also broken into the family home and caused €10,000 damage.

The father said his son was now in a homeless hostel and had “a lot of other problems”.

The son told the judge he didn’t want to hit anyone or hurt anyone. He was sick at the time and thought his psychiatrist was paying his father money to kill him.

He said he would not be going back to the family home because it was too cold and he suffered from fibromyalgia, which causes pain in cold environments. He said his family had never listened to him. He broke into the house because his parents had gone away and there was a cheque in there for him.

“I’m out on the street, I’m homeless, I’m suicidal . . . I’ve got no future and I’m sick of all this crap,” he said.

The judge said he sympathised with all of the circumstances. He granted a safety order, requiring the son not to use or threaten to use violence against the father. But he declined to bar him from the family home.