The sentencing of a woman who murdered her four-year-old stepson has been postponed until the New Year as the child’s mother is unwell and cannot attend court,
The defendant, who faces the mandatory life sentence for murder, will next appear before the Central Criminal Court on January 12th, reports Breaking News.
The mother will be permitted to make a statement on that date,
Anne Rowland SC, representing the Director of Public Prosecutions, told Mr Justice Paul McDermott on Monday that the child’s mother, who had attended every day of the murder trial, was eager to attend the sentencing hearing, reports Breaking News.
Ms Rowland said the mother is “unwell” and requested an adjournment,
The defendant’s identity is being withheld to protect the anonymity of the child whose statement was read in court before she entered her guilty plea, reports Breaking News.
After the adjournment was approved, Ronan Kennedy SC told the court he represented RTÉ, the Irish Times and Mediahuis, owners of the Irish Independent and other outlets,
Mr Kennedy said the media wanted to make submissions about the accused’s anonymity, and Mr Justice McDermott adjourned that hearing also to January 12th, reports Breaking News.
The defendant initially pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter,
On the fourth day of her trial, after the child’s statement had been read to the jury, she pleaded guilty to his murder on March 16th 2021, at a house in the southwest of the country, reports Breaking News.
In her opening statement, Ms Rowland said the defendant had told gardaà that she kept the boy in his room in the days before his death, where he had to sit on the floor and could only leave for the bathroom or emergencies,
The defendant described the boy as a “bold, cheeky child” who often had to be grounded, reports Breaking News.
She told gardaà that on the day the boy sustained fatal injuries, she “snapped” and recalled “shaking him and screaming at him to behave” before he fell to the floor, reports Breaking News.
In November 2024, the child’s father was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to endangerment, neglect and impeding the apprehension or prosecution of the stepmother, knowing or believing she had murdered his son,
Mr Justice McDermott described his actions as “shameful” and said he bore a high level of criminal responsibility for failing to protect and nurture his son, reports Breaking News.
Authorities first became aware of the abuse when the father called 999 on March 13th 2021, claiming the boy had hit his head after falling from the top bunk of a bunk bed,
An advanced paramedic who first attended the scene said he met the father halfway up the stairs, reports Breaking News.
Inside an upstairs bedroom, he found the child lying on his side in the foetal position with his head on a pillow,
The paramedic noted “yellowish” bruising, suggesting older injuries, and a bump or haematoma on the back of the head. The father said the child had previously run into a door, reports Breaking News.
The father also said the child had been “bold, acting up, behaving badly and was grounded and confined to his bedroom,” the paramedic said, reports Breaking News.
The paramedic said he acted quickly, lifting the boy and carrying him to the ambulance,
The child’s pupils did not respond to light, indicating a serious head injury, and he also showed signs of “posturing,” where limbs become extended and stiff, suggesting brain swelling or pressure, reports Breaking News.
He placed a collar on the child to protect the spine and called ahead to the paediatric resuscitation room at a nearby hospital,
A supervisor accompanying the paramedic said she observed bruises on the boy’s eyes, face, torso and both legs. He was “very, very pale, almost white” and unresponsive, reports Breaking News.
The child’s father told the paramedic the fall from the bunk bed occurred about an hour earlier,
He said the bruises on the boy’s face were from playing soccer earlier in the week and that the child “bruises easily,” adding that bruises around the eyes were from running into a door one or two days before, reports Breaking News.
When asked if the child’s mother could be contacted, the father said she was “not in our lives any more”,
Dr Stephen O’Riordan said he reviewed the child’s case after he was brought to a second hospital by ambulance, reports Breaking News.
He described how the “whole theatre gasped” when they saw the child covered in bruises,
Dr O’Riordan documented 17 areas of injury on the eyes, ears, arms, legs and back. The “black eyes,” combined with bruises around the ears, are “classic signs of physical abuse,” he said, reports Breaking News.
The child’s father claimed the black eyes resulted from two falls in the previous two weeks,
“Any fall in a four-year-old child that I would see regularly would never have two black eyes. One or the other, but having two would more likely be from a head injury,” Dr O’Riordan said, reports Breaking News.
There were possible “grab marks” on a shoulder and left elbow, and multiple bruises on the back and chest, indicating the boy “landed on his chest or back a lot, which is consistent with non-accidental injury”, reports Breaking News.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
