Drunk woman threw 6-year-old against wall and beat him with mop

A Latvian woman who threw her former partner’s six-year-old child against a wall and beat him with a mop while she was drunk will be sentenced today.

The 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, initially told gardaí she had no idea how the child got the injuries. She was minding him at the time when the boy’s father was at work.

She later admitted to gardaí that she drank three bottles of wine that night and was upset and angry.

She said she went to the boy’s room while he was sleeping and started to punch him. She dragged him from his room into her own bedroom, where she threw him against a wall and he hit his head off a radiator.

She brought the child downstairs where she continued to hit him with a mop.

The woman told officers she did not have much recollection of the assault.

She came forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on signed pleas of guilty from the district court. She pleaded guilty to assault causing harm at the boy’s Dublin home on April 9, 2014. She has no previous convictions. Judge Martin Nolan remanded the woman on continuing bail for sentence.

John Berry, defending, told the court that his client had suffered a miscarriage the previous month and was suffering from depression and drinking heavily.

The court heard the child’s father had sole custody of him after his mother left him when he was two years old.

Garda Aisling Brophy told Sinead McMullan, prosecuting, that gardaí were called to Tallaght Hospital by staff as they were suspicious of injuries the boy had sustained.

The boy’s father was not aware what had happened and told officers his girlfriend had been minding his son while he was working.

He said he had returned home to find the child and woman sleeping in the same room. The following morning, he noticed his son was covered in small bruises that had an appearance of a rash.

The child told him that the woman had slapped him but the man did not believe him and suggested that the boy had been bitten by a spider.

The boy later told hospital staff he had been bitten by a spider but then told a doctor he had been hit by the woman minding him.

The boy was initially taken into foster care as his father did not believe the accused had attacked his son.

The woman made a statement to gardaí 11 days later admitting the attack. Her relationship with the father ended and the boy returned to live with him.

A victim impact report was handed into court but not read out. Judge Nolan commented the boy stated to specialist interviewers he is now afraid of women.

Mr Berry handed in two psychologist reports. He said his client has displayed remorse and guilt and has acknowledged her behaviour.

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