Protection order for Clare woman after court hears ex-husband was flying drone outside house

File und unrelated image of a drone.

A judge has granted a Protection Order to a woman after hearing she is fearful of her ex-husband who was flying a drone outside her home last weekend.

At the family law court in Ennis, the woman told Judge Patrick Durcan that she required the protection order as “my ex-husband is intimidating me”.

The woman stated that last Saturday, “he was using a drone outside my home which I find very scary as I don’t know why he is doing this”.

The woman stated that her ex-husband “comes into the house when I am not there”.

The woman stated that the man told a Garda that ‘he pays the rent on the house and he will go and come as he pleases’.

The woman described the man as “very controlling”.

Asked by Judge Durcan was she fearful of him, the woman replied ‘yes, I am’.

Judge Durcan told the woman that she has had two previous protection orders in the case.

Protection orders are temporary orders that give the applicant the court’s protection until a Safety Order is sought.

Protection orders are made on an ex-parte basis with only one party present while both sides give evidence in contested Safety Order applications.

In response to Judge Durcan’s comments, the woman stated: “I let it go this time last year and we went in front of you as we made an agreement. He had a new partner and I thought that -.” In response, Judge Durcan stated: “You would want to be more forceful this time. I am putting you under the court’s protection.” In a separate case, a woman has secured a Protection Order after alleging that her partner tried to strangle her while she was holding her three week old baby in her arms.

The woman told Ennis Family Law Court that earlier this year, there was an incident where her partner tried to strangle her.

She stated: “I had my three week old baby in my arms when this happened.” She stated that more recently “my partner assaulted me in front of my three children. We were having an argument. He ran for me and pushed me over a chair and I knocked my head off the ground.

She stated: “I was passed out and I didn’t get back up until I heard my children screaming. When I got back up, he slapped me and pushed my head against the wall with force."

She further stated that she went to the local Garda station and an ambulance brought her to hospital She stated that she is currently living in a women’s refuge and will not be returning to the home.