‘I didn’t make a conscious decision to take Emily out of this world’

A doctor accused of the manslaughter of her profoundly disabled daughter said she did not make a conscious decision to take the 11-year-old “out of this world” when she gave her too much sedative.

Bernadette Scully, aged 58, told gardaí she had given her child double what she would have normally given her in a 24-hour period, but said her death was not premeditated. The GP’s interviews were read into evidence yesterday on the fifth day of her trial.

Ms Scully is charged with unlawfully killing Emily Barut at their home at Emvale, Bachelor’s Walk, Tullamore. It’s alleged that she killed her by an act of gross negligence involving the administration of an excessive quantity of chloral hydrate on September 15, 2012.