A DUBLIN woman whose baby died at birth after she was assaulted while pregnant has told an inquest into his death she has “never stopped fighting” for her child.
Pleading to find out the cause of her baby’s death, Gillian Mills, Fettercairn, Tallaght, said she needed to know “what happened to my baby”. Ms Mills gave birth to Darren on December 4th, 2008, at the Coombe. She recalled being in the hospital and then being brought by wheelchair into a room where the baby had died. “All I could see was police,” she said.
She had been through “psychological torture of 2½ years of receiving no information about my son”.
She further told Dublin city coroner Dr Brian Farrell she had not been informed about the original inquest, which opened in June 2009. Dr Farrell apologised to Ms Mills, saying it was due to some “breakdown in communication”.
He said it was his understanding that there was an allegation that there was an assault that might have led to the death of the baby.
Garda Insp Séamus Keane told the inquest that a file had been sent to the DPP as part of a criminal investigation but the decision was made not to prosecute.
A year later the DPP had re-examined the file “in relation to another matter”, which was still under investigation.
He said an investigation was also being carried out by the Garda Ombudsman following a complaint about the alleged failure of gardaí to investigate Darren’s death.
Dr Farrell adjourned the case until November 30th.