Mother wiped dog faeces on child’s face

A mother rubbed dog faeces on the face of her young daughter and pushed her down a staircase during a five-year period of neglect.

The abuse by the 37-year-old mother of seven began when the child was aged five.

Garda Donna Egan, who outlined the neglect in the child cruelty case, told Ennis District Court the case was “heartbreaking”.

In one incident, Garda Egan said the girl recalled a dog dirtying the kitchen floor and was told by the mother to clean it up. “In the course of this, some of the dog dirt on the tissue was rubbed on the child’s face by her mother,” said the garda.

The victim, now a teenager, also recalled her mother pushing her down the stairs and throwing a mug at her which struck her on the head.

And after refusing to tidy her bedroom on one occasion, her mother punished her by putting her into a bath and turning on the hot tap.

Garda Egan said none of the incidents required medical treatment for the girl.

Insp Tom Kennedy said that after a long, protracted and complex investigation, the DPP recommended the case be dealt with in the district court. The woman pleaded guilty to the neglect of her daughter in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering to the child’s health and affect her well-being between February 23, 2005, and June 30, 2010.

A maximum sentence of 12 months applies to the cruelty charge but the woman yesterday walked free from court.

Judge Patrick Durcan said he would go along with the recommendations of a very-thorough probation report to have the woman placed on a probation bond for 12 months on condition she cooperated fully with the Probation Service, the Child and Family Agency and any other agency. He said that the woman “behaved in a way towards her child which was neglectful in extreme, damaging in the extreme and which was very depriving of what any child should have when they are growing up”.

“The child in question must have suffered seriously and one can only hope that the child who is now elsewhere is now in a better place and is developing with the appropriate aids and supports that are necessary.”

Garda Egan said it was the mother who came forward in 2012 to reveal the extent of the neglect.

She said the mother also recalled throwing a mobile phone at her daughter when she was seven that caused a small cut under her eye, and lying to school authorities about the injury.

The garda said the mother admitted not giving the child any love or affection and emotionally neglecting her. She also admitted to never bonding with her daughter.

The mother could not have been more co-operative with the gardai, the court heard, and there was little contact today by mutual agreement but that the door was open for parties to re-engage.

Judge Durcan said it was an unusual case where “the defendant came from a bad place and had a bad childhood”.

While firmly warning the woman to co-operate with the probation services and others, Judge Durcan said: “I appreciate and admire your acceptance of the situation and I want to compliment you on that and I want to wish you well.”