Waterford woman jailed for manslaughter of newborn daughter found dead in hospital bin

The defendant is suffering from depression and post traumatic symptoms following the birth

The judge suspended the final three years of her sentence for a period three years on several conditions, leaving her three months to serve in prison. File picture

WARNING: Some readers may find the following report upsetting

Waterford Circuit Court Judge Eugene O’Kelly, in imposing a three-month sentence, said a baby found dead in a Caredoc bin, was neglected, and left to die by the one and only person who knew of her birth – her mother.

Judge O’Kelly said baby Sophie, who was born healthy, was denied a chance of a long and happy life. He made the comments during the sentencing hearing of the baby’s mother 23-year-old Caitlin Corcoran, formally of Mount Suir, Gracedieu, Waterford city and now with an address at Castleblaney, Mullinavat, Co Kilkenny. 

Following a two-week trial last October, Ms Corcoran was found unanimously guilty of manslaughter of Sophie Elizabeth Corcoran on April 22, 2018, at Caredoc on the Cork Road, Waterford city. A majority verdict of guilty was returned for the child neglect charge on the same date.

'Vulnerable person'

Addressing the court on behalf of his client, Paul W Hutchinson BL stated that losing her liberty on June 24 has had a profound effect on Ms Corcoran, who suffered a panic attack in the aftermath. 

She has found the two weeks in prison demoralising and lonely as she has been treated as a vulnerable person and isolated 24/7 in her cell from the general prison population. She is limited to six-minute phone calls and is entitled to two visits per calendar month. 

Mr Hutchinson stated that a prison sentence would have a profound impact on his client. However, Judge Eugene O’Kelly couldn’t comment on prison policy and said she had to be sentenced appropriately.

Outline of events

On April 22, 2018, Ms Corcoran arrived with her mother and grandmother at the Caredoc facility at around 2.17am complaining of constipation and back pain. Ms Corcoran was asked to provide a urine sample and left to go to the toilets. 

CCTV footage showed that she was in the toilets for approximately 13 minutes. She returned to the doctor’s office and indicated that she wasn’t in a position to provide a sample. Dr Adel Abdulrazak referred her to University Hospital Waterford (UHW) and informed them that a blood test would be taken for further investigations. 

In sentencing, Judge O’Kelly said the court was principally concerned with what happened in the toilet. Ms Corcoran delivered a full-term baby girl, which by her account fell into the toilet. She retrieved the baby and held it for some time and before leaving placed the baby among blood-stained tissues in a bin lined with a plastic bin liner. 

An alarm was raised when Ms Corcoran presented at UHW when it became apparent that to the medical staff treating her that she had delivered a baby. Initially she had denied doing so, but eventually she disclosed that she was pregnant, but claimed that she was 25 weeks gone. 

When an ultrasound found no presence of a baby, Ms Corcoran responded that she must have had a miscarriage. However, an examination carried out by Dr Annie O’Leary concluded that it was likely she had given birth. 

Dr Catherine McNestry’s examination also suggested recent childbirth, but Ms Corcoran denied this and gave an account of being in the toilet and feeling a huge amount of pressure, before experiencing a haemorrhaging of blood vaginally. At this stage, Dr McNestry had significant child protection concerns. 

The Gardaí were informed at 7.30am and Dr McNestry contacted Dr Abdulrazak, who reported a lot of blood and bloody tissues in the toilet. He did not wish to disturb anything, and the bathroom was sealed off. 

Gardaí arrived shortly after, and Inspector Donal Donohue looked inside one bin and saw blood-stained tissue. He didn’t interfere with the contents, but he lifted the bin up and noted that it was heavy. Later that day Scenes of Crime Examiners emptied the contents of the second of the two bins and discovered the body of a baby girl. 

The baby was pronounced dead. A post-mortem was carried out by Dr Michael Curtis, former Deputy State Pathologist, who concluded that the baby was full term and healthy. There were no obvious signs of trauma. There was evidence that she breathed after birth.

Professor Naomi McCallion, Professor of Neonatology and Consultant Neonatologist believed all that would be required would be stimulation, feeding to prevent hypoglycaemia and keeping the baby warm. After the discovery was made, Ms Corcoran continued to deny that the baby could be hers but gave DNA samples. She later admitted to gardaí the baby was hers.

Sentencing

Judge Kelly noted that it was not an offence to conceal a pregnancy, and said the deception wasn’t seen as an aggravating factor. He said the appropriate sentence for each count was one of four years. The court heard that Ms Corcoran was bullied as a youth and coped by ignoring negative aspects of her life. 

From psychiatric reports it was noted that she went into subconscious denial about her pregnancy as she did in her childhood. She is also suffering from depression and post traumatic symptoms following the birth. Taking the mitigating factors and relevant personal circumstances into account, Judge O’Kelly reduced the sentence by nine months.

He said the question must be asked if society benefited from a person like Ms Corcoran, who has no previous convictions, serving that length of a sentence. For a multitude of reasons, he was satisfied that a nominal prison sentence would suffice. 

He suspended the final three years of the sentence for a period three years on several conditions, leaving three months to serve in prison.

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