Mother whose husband allegedly attacked disabled son with church oil is denied barring order

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

On May 2, 2017, 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, 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 son,” she said. “That is often, often, often. And my son reacted badly the last time. He did it without me knowing and without the consent of the boy.

“I was in the kitchen and I felt the power leave my body. I ran in [to the sitting room]. The boy was there, the father on top, forcing the boy. He was putting the oil on the mouth.”

She said she told her husband to stop what he was doing and then spent several minutes trying to get him off her son before she was successful. The father then attacked her, trying to choke her.

“There’s many bad things my husband has already done to the child,” the mother said.

The husband, in his 40s, wants her and her son to go to his church but she refuses to because she feels it’s not safe, she said.

Last week, she said she was not sure which church the oil was associated with, but that it was one from a West African country.

Referring to her husband, the mother said: “He’s losing control. He’s not controlling his actions. He’s getting crazy. He’s going mad. That’s the point.

“The problem is that he’s going crazy and when he goes crazy [he does] actions that are not safe.”

“I think he doesn’t love [our] relationship because we have a child with special needs and I can’t have another child,” she said.

The father did not appear in court. The mother currently has a safety order against the father, which means he cannot harm her or her dependants, or put them in fear, but he can be in the family home.

Judge Bernadette Owens refused the mother’s application for a long-term barring order, which would mean the father could not enter the home, but said the safety order remains in place until next year.