No food in house for eight children

Care staff who called unannounced to inspect the welfare of eight children found no food in the house and barely enough milk for a baby’s bottle, the trial of a mother charged with cruelty and neglect heard today.

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 years, has pleaded not guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court to 44 charges of child cruelty at five locations on dates between September 1, 2006, and May 12, 2011, contrary to section 246 (1) and (2) of the Children Act 2001.

Two taped interviews involving the second eldest daughter, which were recorded by gardaí in August 2011 and April 2013, when she was 12 and almost 14 years of age, were played to the jury yesterday.

The girl can be seen getting upset as she recalls the day in May 2011 when she and seven siblings were suddenly taken away from each other and placed in various foster homes.

“I was very lonely and I really missed my brothers and sisters. It wasn’t fair,” said the girl during the second taped interview in 2013.

“The social worker who called found out mum was gone and her partner at the time was drunk. The house was in a mess. I tried to clean it but I couldn’t.

“The social worker called three times that day and when she came back the third time, she told us to pack a few things. My mother was gone.

“There was nothing to eat. I had put on chips earlier and there was smoke everywhere. I was hungry, the boys were hungry. There was barely any milk left for my baby brother’s bottle. It was pretty hard. Two men, my mother’s friends, were in the house at the time. They were drunk.

“It was hard not to be able to live with my family. I haven’t seen my family in over three months and I don’t know why.

“It was hard going into care, not knowing people. I was sent to stay with different people in different places at first, but I like the foster mother that I’m with now.”

The then 13-year-old girl said the hardest thing she ever had to do was say good-bye to the two youngest children, whom she had effectively reared. “I didn’t see them again for four months. It was very, very hard,” she said.

When asked if she knew why she had been placed in care, the girl replied: “My mum was being irresponsible. She wouldn’t do stuff that another mother would do. Sometimes she would go for days and not come back and she wouldn’t answer her phone when we’d call her. You wouldn’t be able to talk to her.

“She used to hit me with a back scratcher or things but I didn’t mind as much as the others.”

The girl, who is now 16,

said her older sister had started drinking and taking drugs when she was younger due to their mother’s abusive behaviour.

Her older sister, she said, had become suicidal when in their mother’s care due to the abuse but she was now much better since going into care.

The trial continues.