A five-month-old baby who was badly beaten and bitten by an older child in a creche has been awarded £15,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court almost six years after the assault.
Judge Des Hogan heard that Alison Lawless had been placed by her mother, Elizabeth, with Yvonne Bowers, trading as Tots & Company, on October 7th, 1993.
When she returned that evening to the creche in Croydon Park Avenue, Marino, Dublin, she was shocked and alarmed by what she found had happened to her baby.
Mr Terry O'Sullivan, counsel for Alison and Mrs Lawless, of Charlemont, Griffith Avenue, Dublin, told the court there were red marks all over Alison's head which subsequently turned black and blue.
Mr O'Sullivan, asking the court to approve a settlement offer of £15,000, said Alison had apparently been beaten over the head by another, much older child with a wooden toy while a creche attendant was elsewhere changing another baby's nappy.
He said it was only afterwards when Mrs Lawless took her daughter to Temple Street Children's Hospital that she and nurses discovered the baby had bite marks all over her left arm.
Mr O'Sullivan said that some time later doctors diagnosed Alison with a developmental disorder affecting speech, her comprehension of speech and emotional maturity. He told the court Alison had exemplary parents who had worked tirelessly to help and assist her development.
She had, as a result, made great improvements but was still a little behind in her development.
Approving the £15,000 settlement, Judge Hogan said that, legally, there could clearly be a difficulty for the family in proving a relationship between the incident and Alison's subsequent development problems.