A JUDGE has threatened a farmer with jail after he said he would prioritize spending €5,000 on feeding his animals before caring for his two children.
At the Family Law Court, Judge John King said the farmer who spent the $5,000 he received in forest grant payments this year on animal feed rather than on child support “represents a clear contempt of court.”
Attorney Pamela Clancy, the man’s ex-wife and mother of their two children, told Judge King that the last time they went to court in March, the man owed $1,500 “and only sporadic payments have been made since.”
Ms Clancy told Judge King that the weekly alimony ordered by the court was €75.
Judge King said to the pawn, “I think you’re playing games. I think if I sent you to jail for contempt until you cleared the arrears, the games would end.”
The farmer denied playing games.
Ms Clancy said her client and husband finalized their divorce earlier this year and her client’s now-ex-husband withdrew around €5,000 from his checking account in the days leading up to the settlement.
In response, Judge King said, “This man had €5,000 in cash there, which would have been enough to pay off the arrears.”
The man’s attorney, Claire Vaughan of Colum N Doherty and Co Solicitors, told Judge King, “His explanation is that he spent it on farming to pay for feed for the animals on his land.”
Ms Vaughan said: “He is a land farmer in the area and as part of the divorce settlement it was agreed that substantial estates would be sold and we would ask that the arrears remain in place until the land is sold.”
The farmer told Judge King that he only had 84 euros in his bank account.
Ms Vaughan explained that the properties will go up for public auction in May.
Ms Vaughan asked Judge King: “We would beg your pardon – he has considerable estates that are being sold.”
Judge King questioned how he could exercise leniency in the case of a willful refusal to pay child support.
Ms Clancy said the man’s ex-wife and their two children live together and are “in a bad financial situation”.
She said the three live in a two-bedroom apartment, with mother and daughter sharing one bedroom.
Ms Clancy said the father failed to pay for his son’s education that year, which prevented his son from attending certain school activities in the current school year.
Ms Clancy said the farmer fled court last time after Judge Mary Larkin told him to come up with the money for the arrears and a warrant was issued for his arrears after he failed to show up.
Judge King adjourned the case until May and warned the farmer that the arrears must be paid by the adjourned date.
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