Trial of woman accused of manslaughter of newborn in Waterford hears from Garda dispatcher

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to the charge of manslaughter.

Waterford Court House. 

The trial of a young woman, accused of the manslaughter of her newborn baby girl after her body was discovered in a Caredoc bin, entered its second week before Waterford Circuit Criminal Court this morning.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty when arraigned last week to a charge of manslaughter in 2018 at Caredoc on the Cork road. She has also denied a charge of child neglect on the same date.

Giving evidence this morning, Garda Alan Magner, who was on duty as a dispatcher in the divisional communications room, stated that he received a call from Lee O’Brien in University Hospital Waterford (UHW). 

Mr O'Brien was asked to contact the Gardaí by Dr Catherine McNestry to report that a female had presented with symptoms of having completed a full-term pregnancy, but there was no sign of the baby.

Dr McNestry informed him that the woman had presented at Caredoc offices in Waterford in severe pain prior to coming to hospital. 

The woman was asked by Caredoc doctor Adel Abdulrazak to provide a urine sample, and when she came back from the toilets, her pain was gone.

Gda Magner said his concern was for the child, and he formed the opinion that the most likely place to find the baby was in the bathroom. 

He called Caredoc and asked them to check the bathroom. A substantial amount of blood staining was found, but there was no immediate sign of anything else. Garda Magner asked them not to touch anything in the bathroom. He dispatched gardaí to the hospital and uniformed officers to the Caredoc offices.

TJ Dunford, interim head of primary care operations and community operations, was informed that a crime scene had been set up at Caredoc at the HSE building on the Cork road, by Susan Murphy, who heads up primary care services in the Waterford area. 

Mr Dunford went to Waterford Garda Station and was asked by Gda Hickey for drainage systems to be opened. 

Mr Dunford instructed the technical services team to attend, but nothing of evidential value was found. Mr Dunford was not sure at what stage he was told that they were searching for a newborn infant.

Inspector Donal Donohue spoke to Dr Abdulrazak. Dr Abdulrazak informed him that he had asked the woman to provide him with a urine sample. 

Inspector Donohue went to inspect the ladies bathroom at Caredoc, which was being preserved at the time. He noted blood staining on the toilet seat, the sink, and two bins in the bathroom. He looked inside one bin and saw blood-stained tissue. He did not interfere with the contents, but he lifted the bin up and noted that it was heavy. 

At the time I was looking for a sign of life, and there was no sign,” he said.

Outside the toilet, a plastic bag was placed on the floor. Gda Aidan Slattery, scenes of crime examiner, emptied the contents of the second of the two bins and discovered the body of a baby girl.

Under cross-examination by Paul W Hutchinson BL, Gda Slattery said they knew they were looking for remains of a baby at some stage of development, but was “upset and shocked” when the baby was discovered in the bin.

Superintendent Anthony Lonergan observed blood-stained tissues and the body of the infant when the bin was emptied. The infant appeared to the Superintendent to be full-term.

Shortly after 1.30pm, Fr Fitzgerald administered the last rights to the baby, while Dr Sean McBrinn of Waterford Medical Centre confirmed that the baby was deceased. 

The body of the baby girl was transferred to the morgue at UHW by Luke Hennessy Funeral Directors, accompanied by gardaí.

A post mortem was carried out by Dr Michael Curtis, former deputy State pathologist, who the jury heard evidence from last week.

Superintendent Lonergan spoke with Dr Curtis and informed him that the mother wished to change the name given to the baby by Fr Fitzgerald when he christened her.

Dr Tadhg O’Carroll, of St Philomena's Doctors Practice, recalled how the defendant had visited him in the months prior. 

The family doctor stated that it was not a pregnancy-related visit, but for a respiratory infection that she required antibiotics for. 

Under cross-examination, the GP said he was aware of two previous visits to nurse Ruth Flynn made by the defendant to the practice in the days before. When asked if he had noticed anything that may suggest that she was pregnant, Dr O’Carroll said he did not, as she was wearing baggy clothes.

Practice nurse Ruth Flynn gave evidence of two consultations where two pregnancy tests returned with negative results. 

On the first occasion, the defendant and her mother attended. The mother expressed concern that her daughter was pregnant. Nurse Flynn tested the sample and it proved negative.

The defendant declined a blood test. She advised both mother and daughter to talk at home. 

Some days later the defendant returned again on her own, and a pregnancy test was repeated. That too was negative.

Under cross-examination by Ciaran O’Loughlin, SC, Nurse Flynn said the mother was adamant her daughter was pregnant, and, as her mother, the nurse felt she would know her daughter better. She advised them to have a heart-to-heart talk.

The trial continues.