OAP banned from calling wife rude names

A PENSIONER has been banned from calling his wife vulgar names in their own home.

And a judge warned him in court to keep quiet and to stop his ‘arrogance’ after the man admitted to using crude language.

The woman, who is married more than 50 years to her husband, told a court he subjected her to verbal and emotional abuse in their home. The married couple are both in their 70s and continue to live together.

Judge Patrick Durcan ordered the man to listen to the evidence of his wife. In reply, the man said: ‘I have been listening to it for more than 50 years. Go on.’ Judge Durcan responded: ‘You just behave yourself.’

In reply, the man said: ‘Oh yes. I will behave myself – good, bad or indifferent.’

At the Family Law Court in Ennis, Co. Clare the woman said that her husband has recently called her a ‘fat b **** ’ and a ‘c***’.

The husband has continued to verbally abuse his wife in spite of giving an earlier undertaking to Judge Patrick Durcan in court that he would not be vulgar towards her and treat her with respect.

The retired man told the court that he does use vulgar words and said that vulgar language is frequently used by those in his former profession. In reply, a clearly irate Judge Durcan said: ‘You are also a husband and sharing a domestic space with your wife. You just keep quiet. I will not have any of that type of arrogance that you are portraying in this court.’

Judge Durcan said that the man’s profession ‘means that you are a professional man and the least I would expect is that you would be able to behave in a professional way’. He told the man that he called his wife ‘crude names’ and in reply, the man said: ‘That is probably true.’

The woman said she is not afraid of her husband physically but that if her husband is drinking, the verbal abuse can happen very often. Judge Durcan granted a Safety Order for three years which will prohibit the husband from verbally abusing his wife and a breach of the order is a criminal offence.