Mum beat and starved 8 children

A jury yesterday found a mother, aged 39, guilty of beating, starving, and neglecting eight of her children over a number of years, at a time when she claimed over €160,000 in social welfare payments.

The woman, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the children, had denied 42 charges of child cruelty and neglect by wilfully assaulting, ill-treating, neglecting, or abandoning the children, or causing or allowing the children to be assaulted, ill-treated, neglected, or abandoned, in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to the children’s health or seriously affect their well-being, at six different locations on dates between September 1, 2006, and May 12, 2011.

The jury of nine men and three women took just under four hours, over two days at Galway Circuit Criminal Court, to find the woman guilty of 29 charges of child cruelty and neglect, and not guilty of 13 charges.