A JUDGE has granted a protection order to a woman who told the court she was victim to multiple ‘bite’ assaults by her ex-partner.
In a separate case, Judge Gabbett at the Family Law Court has granted a five-year safety order under the Domestic Violence Act to a woman after hearing that her former partner brandished a loaded shotgun in her direction during a row and hit her when she was pregnant.
In relation to the “bite assault” case, the woman provided photographic evidence showing bite marks on her body from an assault by her ex-partner.
“I see three or four bite marks in this photograph. One bite was so bad you had to go to hospital because of the risk of infection,” Judge Gabbett said.
“The picture I get is that he is quite aggressive. He says terrible things to you and he physically assaulted you by biting you.”
The woman said that Gardaí are investigating the bite assault and a forensic team has been to her home.
Judge Gabbett told the woman that the man had sent “threatening messages and voice notes to you that he would kill you”.
The woman told the court that her ex-partner, was not present for the ex-parte application, was previously jailed “for a firearm”.
Judge Gabbett granted the woman a protection order.
In the “loaded shotgun” case, the woman said that she had attempted to leave the home after the man accused her of being unfaithful.
The woman told Judge Gabbett that the man “became violent and erratic and brandished a loaded shotgun in my direction when I was standing by the car”.
Solicitor for the woman, Ann Gillane, said that Gardaí have since confiscated the shotgun.
“That was a very frightening incident. They were grounds enough for a protection order. You were under a lot of control here,” Judge Gabbett told her.
The woman said that the man first got violent towards her “not long after I found out that I was pregnant where we got into an argument where he accused me of being unfaithful”.
“After one argument, I told him that I wanted to leave the relationship. He got really aggressive and as I tried to exit the tractor, he drove off and I was clinging by the side of the tractor.”
In another incident, the woman described how the man “kicked her out of the house”.
“He grabbed me by the throat. I was trying to push him off and he hit me just above the eye. When I finally pushed him off, I ran up to a neighbour’s house to get away from him. He grabbed me and slammed me into a small wall.”
“You must have been three or four months pregnant at this stage,” Judge Gabbett asked the woman, to which he replied “yes”.
Judge Gabbett said that “unusually, I will grant a five year order”, adding that that the man (also not present in court) could make an access application to see the couple’s baby.
