By Liz Farsaci

A separated mother who allegedly “abducted” her young children to South-East Asia has returned them to Ireland, a court heard today.

The nurse, who works at a hospital, told the Dublin District Family Court on 11 May that she had taken her two children abroad to the be looked after by her mother, as she could not find someone to mind them here in Ireland.

She said her former partner has no interest in the children and did not look after them.

At the time, she told Judge Bernadette Owens: “I have no child-minder, I have no other option. I want ….read more

By Liz Farsaci

A mother saw her son outside a garda station while his father was being charged with criminal damage, she told a court today.

The mum also said her former partner, who has regular overnight visits with their son, refused to give the child back to her for two days, the Dublin District Family Court heard.

The mother told Judge Gerard Furlong that when she recently went to collect her son from one of his visits with his father, she had to plead from outside the father’s house for over an hour to give him back.

But the father, who was recently ….read more

By Liz Farsaci

A father was today granted visits with his daughter despite her claims that he repeatedly “touched her bum”.

The Dublin District Family Law court heard that the mother contacted Tusla after her daughter told her that her father massages her bum sometimes.

The schoolgirl disclosed this information to her mother one night last autumn while they were sitting on the couch watching television, a Tusla social worker told the court. The daughter then asked her mother, “Why don’t you cuddle me in the way Daddy does?”

When the mother asked her about this, her daughter told her that the father massaged ….read more

By Liz Farsaci

A family law judge has threatened to jail an unemployed father who owes more than €8,000 for the upkeep of his three children.

Judge Marie Keane told the father that he paid his maintenance when it suited him and he didn’t pay consistently.

The Dublin District Family Law court heard that the father owes his former partner €8,530 for the maintenance of their children. The father disagreed with this figure, arguing he owed only €3,300 in payments for his children.

Judge Keane noted that the father had appealed every order for maintenance payments since the first one in 2010.

Addressing the father, ….read more

By Liz Farsaci

A mother whose husband allegedly attacked their disabled son with church oil was today denied a barring order against the man.

On 2 May last the mother received an interim barring order against her husband, after the Family Law court heard that he pinned their special needs son to the couch, forcefully making the sign of the cross on his forehead with church oil.

Seeking a long-term barring order today, the mother, who is aged in her 30s, again told the Dublin District Family Court how her husband assaulted their son with the church oil.

“He put a cross on my ….read more

A family court has denied guardianship of a toddler to a convicted cannabis grower with an outstanding European arrest warrant.

Dublin district family court heard that the father’s relationship with his son’s mother ended before he was taken into custody in March 2015.

The mother had taken the son to visit the father in prison on a number of occasions, but this had stopped recently.

Sophie Cargin, legal counsel for the father, said he wanted to be kept involved and informed as best he could be.

Guardians are entitled to be informed about major decisions in a child’s life and be kept abreast of ….read more

By Liz Farsaci

A father who allegedly kept clean urine in a field to use during drug tests has been ordered to provide tests twice weekly.

Once the father, who has struggled with a heroin addiction for years, provides clean urine samples, he will be allowed visits with his son, the Dublin District Family Court heard today.

The father attended a drug treatment centre last week in order to provide a urinalysis, and results are pending, Sophie Cargin, the man’s legal representative, said.

The boy’s mother argued that one sample was not sufficient to prove he was clean. She said that heroin can be ….read more

By Liz Farsaci

A father assaulted his special needs son with “church oil”, the Dublin District Family Court heard today.

A mother said that over the weekend her husband pushed their teenage son, who has special needs, down on the couch and forcefully made a cross on his forehead with church oil. He also allegedly put some oil in his son’s mouth.

She said she wasn’t sure which church the oil was associated with, but said it was one from a West African country.

In a statement to the court, she said she had to force her husband off her son, and her husband ….read more

By Liz Farsaci

A man who admitted he pushed his wife during a drunken altercation was today denied a protection order against her.

The man told the Dublin District Family Court that on Saturday night, his wife of 17 years began making various accusations against him after they had gone for a night out.

He said she had acted similarly in the past but “on Saturday night she really let me have it”, accusing him of being gay and visiting sex workers.

He told Judge Ann Ryan that he tried to get his keys from her handbag and there was a scuffle. He said ….read more

By Liz Farsaci

A soldier has been found not guilty of assaulting a fellow member of the Defence Forces while on tour in Lebanon.

Sgt Martin Dougan was accused of assaulting Corporal Niall McShane on 9 March 2014, while both men were serving with the Irish Defence Forces in Lebanon.

The court martial trial heard that Cpl McShane and four other colleagues were on an overnight recreational visit in south Lebanon when they met Sgt Dougan and others at a pub on the night of 8 March 2014.

The alleged incident then happened in the pub in the early hours of the following morning, ….read more