A CHRONIC heroin addict whose 15-month-old son was found with cuts, bruises and burns to his body while lying in a bedroom that had “evidence of drug use”, has been given a suspended sentence.
The 40-year-old woman, who is the mother of six other children and cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to wilfully neglecting the child on December 16th, 2005.
The toddler was the youngest of the family and was found with bruises of varying ages on his body, burns on his fingertips and scalp, cuts to his lips and palms and a swollen knee joint.
Gardaí and health board workers arrived at the house in Dublin to find it in disarray with dirty nappies lying in the hallway and clothes strewn about.
The baby was found on a bed in a sodden nappy with blood around his nose and mouth. He was listless and unresponsive and was lying next to a burnt spoon with empty beer cans thrown on the floor.
Judge Desmond Hogan said yesterday that his initial reaction on hearing the evidence in the case last July had been to immediately impose a custodial sentence.
He said he was glad he had not because the woman had used the intervening time to begin to address her drug addiction, while an updated report showed that the children, who are in long-term foster care, were progressing well, educationally, physically and mentally.
Judge Hogan said the welfare of the children was of paramount importance to the court.
However he said he also had to take into account that this offence arose from chronic drug addiction and that the woman’s efforts to get herself back on the straight and narrow would benefit her children.
He imposed a two-year sentence which he suspended for four years on strict conditions.
He gave liberty to the Garda and the Probation Service to re-enter the case should the woman breach the conditions.
Garda Sinéad Connolly told Caroline Biggs, prosecuting, that the woman said she had left the house four weeks previously following “an aggressive incident” with a man who was also living there.
She refused to return to the house until he moved out and although she had visited regularly, she spent most nights either sleeping in a car or in a friend’s mother’s house.
She told gardaí that she was told by the other children that the toddler had fallen down the stairs and that the burns had probably been caused by him touching a hot radiator. She accepted that she did not bring him to hospital as she should have done when she saw the extent of his injuries.
A social welfare report said that the little boy is now progressing well under the care of his foster mother.
When he first went into care he took food from the bin, although there was some prepared for him already, would wake up screaming during the night, was clingy and had behavioural difficulties.
His position had improved since and he got on well with his foster mother.
He also enjoyed supervised fortnightly visits with his mother.
Judge Hogan said “a picture is worth a thousands words”, having viewed what he described as “harrowing” photographs of the boy’s injuries.
“The serious neglect of an infant is a mother’s dereliction of her duty to her child,” Judge Hogan said. “She was a chronic drug addict who was living in an abusive and violent relationship.” He said he believed the woman was not really aware of what was going on.
Garda Connolly agreed with William Galvin, defending, that the woman was very different to the woman she was in December 2005 and he accepted that she had been impressed by her progress.