Kildare father jailed for physical abuse of children
Naas Courthouse
A KILDARE mother and father were sentenced on Thursday in Naas Circuit Court as a result of years of abuse and neglect to their children.
The father, who will not be named due to reporting restrictions, was sentenced to five years in prison with no suspension, while the mother was given a sentence of two years and six months, fully suspended.
The middle-aged couple were convicted with three counts of cruelty to children under Section 246 of the Children Act, 2001, to reflect the abuse experienced by their three children, which occurred between October 2012 and September 2021.
Evidence was previously heard during the trial by way of specialist interviews with the accused pair’s children which detailed flogging, whipping and hitting of their children with belts, clothes hangers, wooden spoons, and hands.
The court heard that one child could not recall how many beatings had occurred, as there were too many to count, recounted Judge Elva Duffy.
The court also heard that the children had witnessed aggressive arguments between their parents, often becoming physical between the pair.
A child of the accused couple detailed how the father would beat her siblings and her mother during this time.
It was also detailed by one sibling, that while their mother had a huge part to play in the abuse, their father, who is now aged in his 50s, was more violent.
The court was told that the mother suffered with mental health issues and neglected her children as a result. The children lived in an environment without adequate food and other essential items.
“They had to fend for themselves,” said Judge Duffy. “They were terrified and hungry.” The father denies any use of excessive violence, and admitted to hitting the children as a form of discipline.
The mother accepted she was strict, but that she did not think it was abusive. However, she did enter an early guilty plea on the matter.
Before sentencing the pair, Judge Duffy offered her sympathy to the affected children and said she commends the strength and dignified way the children held themselves during the course of the case “with an understanding beyond their years”.
“How impressive you are now when the life they started with gave them no chance.” With everything in mind, including mitigating factors such as the father’s no previous convictions and a steady work history, a sentence of five years was imposed.
The mother was sentenced with two years and six months fully suspended, due to her smaller part in the abuse, her early guilty plea, her willingness to cooperate with social services, which has not included any new referrals to the service and the closing of her case by Tusla.
