Fears woman may try to snatch another child
The family, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, did not want to see Marie Crean, aged 37, going to jail when the matter came up for sentencing originally.
However, because of recent developments, they indicated through Detective Sergeant Declan O’Sullivan yesterday that they would like to see her receiving treatment in a secure environment.
This followed an incident during the summer where she left a residential programme in Athy and went drinking in the town. She ended up getting a three-month jail sentence on public order charges.
At Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, Ms Crean said she wanted to get sentencing over with on the charge of abducting the baby.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said he wanted to speak with Crean’s psychiatrist about putting some kind of regime of treatment in place for whenever she ends up being released into the community. He said he would not impose sentence in the dark without knowing that.
Ms Crean who had been living at rented flats and bedsits around Cork for the past few years, lived most recently at Englinton Place, Western Road, Cork.
At Cork Circuit Criminal Court previously, Crean pleaded guilty to the charge of intentionally taking a child, removing him from the control of his mother contrary to Section 17 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
The boy was abducted at the Erinville hospital at 8.40pm on Tuesday night, September 24 2002 and security staff prevented the child being removed from the building.
Three hours after it happened, she was arrested at Western Road.
Sentencing was adjourned until October 29.
