Mother of Cork child, 3, who walked alone to shop at night, did not report him missing for 35 minutes, court told

Sergeant John Kelleher outlined the allegations: 'The three-year-old entered the store alone and complained to the shopkeeper that he was hungry'

When gardaí arrived at the woman's home, they found her to be intoxicated, court heard. Picture: Larry Cummins 

It took 35 minutes for a mother to report to gardaí her three-year-old child was missing, in a case where he arrived hungry at night in a grocery shop asking for food, it was confirmed on Thursday at Cork District Court.

On being told of this time lag between the arrival of the child in the shop at 9.40pm, and hearing confirmation from Sergeant Gearóid Davis that the mother made the call to gardaí at 10.15pm, Judge Mary Dorgan said she was refusing to deal with the case summarily at Cork District Court.