Mother could lose custody of children after judge’s warning

A mother described by a judge as ‘devious, self-serving and duplicitous’ risks have her two children taken from her today unless she agrees shared custody with the children’s father.

This follows Judge Patrick Durcan’s warning to the woman at the family law court in Kilrush yesterday.

Judge Durcan told her: “I will give you until tomorrow to deal with the shared custody issue and if the issue is not addressed appropriately, I will consider making an order granting sole custody to the father.”

The warning follows the mother’s refusal to abide by a court order issued on July 8 awarding joint custody of the children to the parents.

In the case, the woman alleges that her former partner has sexually abused their five-year-old girl and as a result, the father of the two children has not seen them since February of this year. The man denies the claim.

The matter was re-entered into court after the mother’s refusal to abide by the court order.

However, solicitor for the father, Shíofra Hassett told Judge Durcan yesterday that the mother is still insisting on supervised access only.

Solicitor for the woman, Ronan Murphy, said: “That is the position judge, supervised access is all that we are offering.”

In response, Judge Durcan told Mr Murphy: “The sooner that your client understands that she does not propose the better... I order that the court order be complied with.”