Mum dropped baby boy on tiled floor and left him loose in car

A baby was dropped on a tiled floor by his drunken mother and in another incident weeks later she put him in a child seat in a car without securing him and he was seriously injured again.

The infant has since been diagnosed with severe mental disability as a result of which he will never be capable of attending mainstream schooling or independent living. He is over two years of age now and has yet to say his first word.

These matters came to light during a hearing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court where the infant’s mother faced sentencing on two charges of intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to the baby, once in February and once in March last year. The mother cannot be named as it would identify the child, whose name cannot be disclosed publicly.

The injuries came to light when the child was presented for medical attention at Cork University Hospital in at the end of March 2013, when he was about six months old.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said: “My concern is protecting the child from his mother which is a harsh thing to say.

“This is a very, very troubling case, recklessly causing suffering to an infant.

“An aggravating factor is that the abuse was on a continuous basis. We are talking about dropping a six-month-old child on a tiled floor and a child being bounced around a car where he was not restrained in a car seat. This basically is animalistic behaviour towards a child on a continuous basis.”

At Cork Circuit Criminal Court, the judge imposed a five-year sentenced, but suspended it.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said: “I am superimposing myself on the family court and any other court. Let it be known that any application [by the mother for access to her son] may be regarded as a breach of the suspension.”

Alice Fawsett, senior counsel, said the defendant presented on the day the child’s injuries were discovered with injuries of her own.

She had suffered facial injuries and claimed to gardaí that girls in town had beaten her up.

However, it was later established that her partner had beaten her and that this man has since since jailed for other crimes.

When interviewed by the gardaí she admitted the two offences in relation to the baby.

However, Judge Ó Donnabháin said his concern was the permanent safety of the child.

“The things that allowed me in two recent cases of imposing a suspended sentence [where parents assaulted children] was evidence that a responsible adult had the permanent care of the child.”

“These arose out of neglect rather than cruelty. A HSE social worker told her that she will never see the child again,” Ms Fawsett said.

The mother indicated through her lawyer that she would not be applying for access to the child.