Judge turns down barring order request as no real threat in husband’s remarks

THE recent tragedy in Cavan where a father killed his wife and children before ending his own life was mentioned in a family law case at Wexford District Court.

The couple who came before Judge Gerard Haughton had a young child and it was accepted by both that their marriage had been in trouble since the beginning of the year.

Matters came to a head around the time that the Hawe fatalities in Ballyjamesduff were on the front pages in the press.

The wife in the case heard at the courthouse in Ardcavan came looking for an interim barring order to be made permanent.

She described how her spouse used the phrase ‘ this is suicide for the whole family’ in reference to their own troubles.

She told how he mentioned the Hawe case and said she was afraid for herself and the child when he said ‘everyone has their breaking point’.

She felt that he was on the edge and acting erratically at the time and she had been granted an interim barring order.

However, the judge declined to make the order permanent after the husband told him there was no way that he would hurt either the plaintiff or their offspring.

The man insisted that the mention of the Hawes was not intended as a threat.

Judge Haughton felt that the wife had been reasonably concerned for her safety but he was now satisfied that there was no real threat intended in the remarks.

He refused the application for the barring order but suggested that it was in the interests of both parties that they should live apart.

He left it to them to arrange to do so without the involvement of the court.