Mother pleads guilty to exposing her child to assault, ill-treatment and neglect

Irish Times

27-05-2025

A woman whose former husband subjected their young daughter to a litany of sexual abuse, including rape on an almost daily basis, pleaded guilty at a Tuesday sitting of the Circuit Criminal Court to cruelty to a child, contrary to the Children's Act 1908.
The offender, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty on an amended indictment before a jury at Castlebar Courthouse to two sample charges that she exposed her child to assault, ill-treatment and neglect in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to her health.
The mother's ex-husband is currently serving an 18- year prison sentence for the offences.
Garda Insp Thomasina McHale, responding to prosecuting counsel Patricia McLaughlin SC, told the court the investigation into the victim's mother was secondary to an extensive historical sexual abuse allegation involving the victim's father.
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Insp McHale said the abuse against the victim occurred between 1988 and 2001, when she was aged between three and 16.
'It happened on a daily basis,' the officer stated. 'It happened in multiple rooms in the house, frequently in the bathroom, the sittingroom, her parents' bedroom, her bedroom, and in the car as well.'
Defence counsel Desmond Dockery SC told the court the accused was pleading guilty to two counts, on a full facts basis, of wilfully exposing a child to ill-treatment in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury.
Counsel added that she was not pleading to having knowledge of the depth, extent, depravity and nature of the abuse committed, although there were signs and reasons for her to suspect that her daughter had been subject to some inappropriate attention.
Ms McLaughlin, prosecuting counsel, said it was not the prosecution case that the accused witnessed all of the actual acts that happened, but it was certainly the prosecution case that the acts were happening at such a frequency, in multiple rooms in the house on a daily basis, that she certainly knew something inappropriate was happening to her daughter.
Remanding the accused on continuing bail, Judge Sinead McMullan put back sentencing until October for mention.
The judge acceded to a request from Mr Dockery for psychological assessment for the accused as well a Probation Report, 'given the peculiar nature of the case', in the words of the senior counsel.