'She chose drugs, strange men, and violence over me': Cork mother avoids jail over child cruelty

Irish Examiner

14-05-2025

A woman put her hands to her face and wept as she was spared a jail sentence in what the judge described as an extremely serious child cruelty case where she betrayed her two daughters.
Judge Dermot Sheehan imposed a total sentence of two and a half years suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. The only reason the accused, aged 41, cannot be named is because the victims cannot be identified under the Children's Act.
Judge Sheehan said 'Both of their victim impact statements were powerful and showed a deep sense of betrayal by the accused.
'They described their mother drinking and being unstable and that unknown men were regularly there… Asked (by investigating gardaí) if they wanted to leave, both girls said yes.
'The accused herself was exposed to physical violence by these men. She was a drug addict and chose to indulge her addiction rather than look after her children who were found to be malnourished and later had to be taught about the importance of personal hygiene and nutrition.'
The two girls spoke out about the frightening cruelty they experienced for years at the hands of their own mother in the family home.
Elizabeth O'Connell defence senior counsel said the defendant could not undo what she had done but that she had done what was within her power, namely complying with probation and showing remorse for the devastation caused to her daughters.
'She has put aside alcohol and cocaine and the completely toxic and violent relationships with people who should not have been brought to her home,' Ms O'Connell said, adding that the defendant was also a victim when it came to relationships with those men.
Now aged in their early and mid-teens, they gave evidence at Cork Circuit Criminal where their mother pleaded guilty to two charges of cruelty to a child contrary to the Children's Act whereby she ill-treated a child in her care in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to her health or seriously to affect her wellbeing. The charge related to the older child referred to a period of three years when she was aged from approximately 12 to 15 years, and a shorter period in respect of the younger daughter.
The older girl testified: 'I don't think people understand what it's like to grow up in a house where you never feel safe. You don't know if the person who supposedly loves you will be kind one minute or cruel the next. My mother didn't just fail me she betrayed me in ways no child should ever have to experience, she chose drugs over me, strange men over me and violence over me. She let her random hook-ups and one-week relationships into the house like they had a right to be there, like I was just some background noise in her life. She never once thought about me.'
Her younger sister also described the impact of her mother's cruelty on her: 'One day she'd tell me how much she loved me, and the next day, she'd say things that were the complete opposite. Because of this, I've always had a hard time trusting people who are kind to me. I was manipulated in so many ways while living with her, and I learned early on that if my mom wasn't happy, I wasn't allowed to be happy.
'All I really want is for my mom to get help the kind of real help she needs. I want her to rehabilitate and become the person I know she could've been.'