A judge has granted a woman an order requiring the instant removal of her allegedly “sexually violent” husband from the family home.
At the Family Law Court, Judge Adrian Harris has granted the woman the Interim Barring Order (IBO) after hearing evidence from the woman alleging that her husband would force himself on her when they shared a bed.
Harris told the woman that arising from the IBO, gardaí would go to the family home with the court order, hand it to her husband and ask him to leave the home.
The judge said the order prohibits the man from entering the home for the duration of the order, which will come back into court on April 22nd.
READ MORE
In her evidence, the woman alleged: “My husband has been sexually violent with me over a number of years.
“When we shared a bed, he would force himself on me, and if I said ‘no’ he would abuse me, so it is easier for me to give in to him and have sex in order to keep the peace.”
The woman said the couple still live in the family home but sleep in separate bedrooms.
Harris asked the woman what the catalyst was for her coming to court.
She said: “He is controlling me so much in every aspect I can’t function and I am not allowed to live my life the way I want to. I am walking on eggshells ... I am living in a house with an angry man for 20 years – every single day.”
She said she is in her 40s “and I don’t want to die that way – I want to get out of this situation”.
The judge asked the woman whether she had reported any matters, and she said she intended to go to the gardaí.
She said: “He has always told me that I am in the wrong – that maybe what he does is normal and I was not seeing it right.”
In her statement, the woman said she was applying for the order “as a result of ongoing domestic abuse by my husband”.
She said in recent weeks there had been an escalation. She said: “He is very controlling and he has the final say on everything in relation to the household and our children.
“He constantly criticised my appearance and has done so in front of other people.”
The application was made on an ex parte basis, with only one side present; the woman’s husband will get an opportunity to rebut allegations made at the adjourned sitting on April 22nd, or consent to an extension of the IBO.
