A man who subjected his six children to “terrible cruelty”, which included repeatedly locking one of them in a chest freezer, has been jailed for nine years and two months.
An investigating garda told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court it was one of the worst cases she had ever come across in her 10 years working in a child protection unit.
The court heard there was often no food or not enough to eat for the children, that the house was filthy and cold, and that both the home and garden were full of bags of rubbish.
Rodents, flies and faeces were witnessed by gardaí and social workers on visits to the house.
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The six children – two boys and four girls – were considered small and pale for their ages, dirty, and with inadequate clothing.
The youngest girl – then only a few months old – was admitted to hospital covered in dried faeces several months before the children were taken into care in January 2020. They were then aged between 10 months and eight years old.
The court heard there was alcohol and drug-taking by both parents in the home.
The children are now aged between six and 14 years and have been placed in three different foster homes.
The 35-year-old Dublin man pleaded guilty to six counts of child cruelty on dates between 2016 and 2020. The court heard he had been due to go on trial earlier this year but entered guilty pleas after a defence proposal was accepted by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The man also faced three counts of sexually assaulting the oldest girl and two boys. He has 20 previous convictions, primarily for minor public order offences.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the anonymity of the children, was handed a sentence of nine years and two months on Tuesday.
His former partner, the children’s mother (35), was handed a sentence of two and a half years in 2025 after pleading guilty to a count of child neglect.
The oldest boy, who was seven when he went into care, was singled out for particularly cruel treatment by the man, the court heard.
This included not being given food and being locked in his room, and also in a downstairs bathroom, a closet and a functioning chest freezer.
The man attempted to suffocate the boy and often held his head underwater in the bath.
The oldest boy (now 13), read his victim impact statement over video-link to the court. Victim impact statements on behalf of the other siblings were also read by their foster carers.
These statements outlined the physical, emotional and psychological effects on the children, who have struggles with trust, food and school. The children are happy in their foster homes, but upset that they do not live together.
In his statement, the 13-year-old said he thinks the man “should be put in jail for over 30 years for what he put me and my siblings through”, adding “I don’t want him to do it to any other children”.
“You hated me for some reason. Told me I wasn’t part of your family. I don’t know why you were so cruel to me.”
The eldest girl (now 14), said: “No one helped us.
“You are a selfish cruel man… All I wanted was a caring supportive dad. But no, I got a shitty one instead,” she said.
In a statement on behalf of the youngest girl (now six), her foster mother said she asks questions including “why was this allowed to happen to me?”
