Man who abandoned his young son with autism in city centre avoids jail

The accused and his partner had attended a party in Dublin that evening with their two children, both of whom have been diagnosed with autism.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the child and his younger brother have since been taken into care and have been separated.

A father-of-two who abandoned his seven-year-old son with autism in a city centre has received a fully suspended sentence.

The man (aged 40), who cannot be named to protect the child's identity, told gardaí that he was in “a bad state” on the night and had formed the idea that his partner had taken his son home.