Neighbours took in woman’s neglected kids

Images of malnourished, neglected, and poorly dressed children wandering about on their own late at night were painted by witnesses at the trial of a mother charged with neglect and cruelty towards eight of her children.

The trial at Galway Circuit Criminal Court heard that two neighbours regularly fed the woman’s two sons, while one bought them clothes because she felt sorry and wanted to care for them.

Prosecuting barrister Conor Fahy told the jury that, from records received by Garda Denise Kelleher from the Department of Social Welfare, the mother had received a total of €160,726 in social welfare payments, between July 2006 and May 2011.