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The mother of a traumatized young woman must be urgently relocated due to the very serious risk that her daughter poses to her life, the Superior Court has heard.
The gardaí and the agencies take very seriously the daughter’s expressed intention to kill her mother and the agencies agree that the mother should move immediately from her current residence and county after the Superior Court heard that there is no medical basis for that the woman is under judicial protection.
Superior Court Chief Justice Mary Irvine said Wednesday that “there is nothing more imperative than the safety and life” of the mother and that her position should top any council priority list when it comes to rehoming her.
With the agreement of all parties, the judge postponed until Monday the issuance of final orders that would withdraw the guardianship proceedings initiated by the Child and Family Agency (CFA).
The 18-year-old woman, described as a “very serious” risk to her mother and a few others, had opposed guardianship.
Psychiatrists say it should be placed in a moderately safe care unit, but all units that have approached to date, even in the UK, are not willing to accept it.
There is a prior history of assault and sexual violence in the case and an incident in early 2019 led to the woman’s admission to special care. She had described her intentions and a large knife was found, the court heard. She had laid out in a manuscript a plan to kill and maim someone that the CFA said was treated as a “definitive” threat.
He also spoke about wanting to go to college, reflecting a “deep-seated disorderly thinking” form. It was felt that it would have to be placed in a specialist UK unit as the level of complexity presented exceeds anything services have found here, the CFA said.
He is currently in a special care unit, which is not safe, under court orders and is the subject of criminal proceedings in the District Court in relation to the charges of alleged assault. She was also questioned by Gardaí last week in connection with an alleged spitting incident.
Guardianship request
In light of the withdrawal of the guardianship application, efforts will be made to secure their consent for an appropriate voluntary placement, the court heard Wednesday.
To be placed under guardianship, there must be medical evidence that a proposed ward lacks the capacity to make decisions about him or her person and finances.
When the guardianship application was initiated last December, before she turned 18, the CFA had a psychiatric report expressing the opinion that the woman lacks capacity, but that the psychiatrist reported last week that the woman had regained the capacity. Another psychiatrist had also previously discovered that women have the ability.
In another report, focusing mainly on a plan of care for women and not on capacity, a doctor expressed some doubts about the capacity of women, but did not address that issue in detail.
In light of the updated psychiatric evidence, Barry O’Donnell SC of the CFA told Judge Irvine on Wednesday that the guardianship request will not be carried out. She said all psychiatric reports were done by experienced psychiatrists and based on recent evaluations. The clear preponderance of current evidence was in favor of ability but, when the custody petition was filed, the evidence was in the other direction, he said.
She asked the court to defer issuing final orders withdrawing guardianship proceedings to allow the CFA and other agencies to organize a community placement for the woman.
It was necessary to ensure a managed transition for the benefit of women and avoid a hasty discharge, she said.
The fact that the woman and other parties agreed that the matter dated back to Monday was significant in light of the court’s jurisdiction to grant the stay, he added.
The judge pointed out that it was not the “preponderance” but the totality of the evidence that was against the guardianship.
Confidentiality problem
Mr. O’Donnell also said that, as part of liaising with the gardaí on this matter, the gardaí had sought to see psychiatric reports on the woman that raised issues such as confidentiality.
There was a “very compelling” argument for the disclosure in light of the risk issues, but the CFA was not seeking a disclosure order and would instead seek to agree to provide a social work report summarizing the issues. risk in general, he said. This was the final twist in this “very unusual” case.
John D. Fitzgerald SC, for the woman said that he had not been able to receive instructions given the speed with which the matter had moved, but expected to do so this weekend. His only instruction was to allow the status quo to remain until Monday, and he was also concerned that medical reports collected after his evaluations would not be shared with the Gardaí.
Michael Lynn SC, for the mother of the woman, said that she and Gardaí are very concerned for her safety and have agreed that she should move out of her current residence and county immediately. That is urgent, but the cooperation of another local authority would be needed, he said.
The judge said he could “think of nothing more imperative than the safety and life of the mother” and that the matter should go to the top of any council priority housing list.
Reporting restrictions apply, including preventing any reporting of details of a certain condition the woman has.
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