Mother ‘plied daughter with drugs’

A young woman told a jury yesterday that shortly after she was taken into care by HSE social workers in 2011, then aged 14, she was allowed spend a night with her mother who plied her with drugs until she got sick.

The 39-year-old mother, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the children, who are now aged between 18 months and 19 , has pleaded not guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court to 44 charges of child cruelty.

The eldest daughter, now 19, gave her evidence via video link to the court yesterday. She said she ran away from home when she was 14, in April 2011, because her mother was so abusive.