No sentence for mother who neglected sick son

A judge has found the facts proven but imposed no sentence in the "tragic and sad case" of a young mother with a "massive inability to cope" who neglected her sick five-year-old son to such an extent that he was malnourished and unable to walk when taken into care by gardaí.

The case came to light when social workers reported their concerns to gardaí after the woman presented with the sick child at a local health care clinic but failed to bring him to a doctor or to hospital as advised.