THE Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children last night called for the immediate establishment of a child abuse register following the jailing of a former soldier for brutally treating his infant son.
Gerard Tiernan (38), of North Great Charles Street, Dublin, was sentenced to 12 years in jail after pleading guilty in the Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting the baby, who now has impaired vision and other disabilities.
Tiernan stunned his son to stop him crying and, when the child stopped breathing, shook him violently to revive him. He then refused to take the child to hospital because doctors would find out what was happening.
The five month old infant was eventually admitted to Temple Street Hospital suffering from seizures, bruising and fractured ribs. He has since been taken into care and now shows signs of improvement.
The court was told that Tiernan had previously been jailed for three years in 1990 for an almost identical offence against another infant son. In that case, the baby suffered two broken legs and several broken ribs.
Judge Michael Moriarty said that, in the latest case, Tiernan had stopped just short of murder. Describing it as "shattering and horrific", he said a baby was at the summit of those with rights to be protected by the courts.
Mr Cian O Tighearnaigh, chief executive of the ISPCC, said no other case had so underscored the need for a child abuse register, as recommended three years ago by the tribunal which inquired into the Kilkenny incest case.
"Here's a case where a guy was convicted of a similar offence a few years ago, yet neither the probation service nor the health board made any effective effort to make sure he didn't have unsupervised access to another infant."
Noting that the case had come to light only because it involved a criminal trial, Mr O Tighearnaigh wondered what was happening in all the other cases of child abuse which were normally held in camera in the family courts.
The main purpose of a child abuse register, he said, would be to ensure that children at risk and their abusers were monitored after a criminal conviction or civil proceedings so that it did not happen again.
He said it was also significant, as the court heard yesterday, that Tiernan had come from a violent background in which every minor misdemeanour was harshly punished. He was part of "a cycle of violence against children".