Woman claims husband refused to call ambulance for her when she suffered heart attacks

The man alleges that she has breached a domestic violence order

The woman stated after she made the request for the ambulance her husband “told me to f-off and he wouldn’t call an ambulance for me”. File photo: Larry Cummins

A man who is alleged to have refused a request to call an ambulance for his wife, who was suffering from two minor heart attacks, is now alleging to gardaí that she has breached a domestic violence order.

According to solicitor for the man, Colum Doherty, the summons concerning the alleged breach of the Protection Order by the woman is to go before a district court on Tuesday. The couple have cross Protection Orders in place against each other.

The two are married over 40 years and have previously given undertakings in court not to enter each other’s bedrooms and bathrooms at their home.

At the Family Law Court, Judge Mary Larkin warned that the court is not going to entertain the two any longer after hearing of repeat applications coming before the court concerning the two.

Mr Doherty stated that “the marriage has broken down and domestic violence legislation is not going to correct it”. He said that there are too many internal agreements concerning who can go where and who can do what in the house.

He said: 

There is a shared sitting room and a shared washing machine and obviously when the washing machine doesn’t finish when it should finish for a particular person, well then…

Mr Doherty stated it is a case of “'you don’t pass that door and I won’t pass that chair but when you pass that door or I pass that chair', well then…”.

Solicitor for the wife, Pamela Clancy described the situation as “highly dysfunctional”. Ms Clancy stated that the matter comes down to housing.

She said: “My client has inquired about alternative housing but the council require her to remove her name from the lease and to waive her interest in the property before allowing her to go on the list. That seems to me to be very unfair. She is at risk of homelessness.” Judge Larkin stated that it wasn’t appropriate for the court to be resolving the issues for the two.

She said: “This is really wear and tear in the marriage and parties need to sit down now and get re-housed or move on.” Concerning the husband's alleged refusal to call the ambulance, the woman alleged at a previous court hearing that she was suffering from chest pains at home when she sought assistance from her husband.

The woman stated after she made the request for the ambulance her husband “told me to f-off and he wouldn’t call an ambulance for me”.

The woman said: “I had to call the ambulance myself and I was brought to hospital.” The chest pains were later diagnosed as two minor heart attacks on examination at hospital.

The man said that he and his wife have had nothing in common for the past 12 years. Judge Larkin said that Protection Orders are to continue and adjourned both cases to November.