Parents on trial for cruelty to girl left with life-changing injuries

A man and a woman have gone on trial accused of child cruelty after their nine-year-old daughter was left with life-changing injuries.

The man (39) and woman (36), who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, have pleaded not guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to the child at the family home in Dublin on July 2nd, 2019.

They have also pleaded not guilty to child cruelty, contrary to the Children Act, by failing to provide adequate medical aid on the same occasion.

They have further pleaded not guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious disfigurement to the child and to two further counts of child cruelty on occasions between June 28th and July 2nd, 2019.

Opening the State’s case on Tuesday, Anne Rowland SC told the jury they would hear evidence that the child sustained a brain injury that prevents her from functioning as a normal child again.

She said that at 10.57pm on the night in question the father called 999 and said his daughter was unconscious after falling in the shower.

Serious brain injury

She said they would hear evidence that when a Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance crew arrived, they were immediately struck by the fact that the girl’s body was in such a way that it suggested she had serious brain injury.

The girl was hospitalised and put on life support while a medical examination showed that her body was covered in cuts, bruises and burn marks, Ms Rowland said.

She said the soles of the child’s feet and palms of her hands were burnt and that her vaginal area appeared to be blackened. Ms Rowland said the child was eventually taken off life support but now has limited consciousness and is likely to need constant care for the rest of her life.

She said the father told people at the hospital that his daughter had self harmed, but that he had not noticed any of the extensive injuries on her body.

He later told gardaí­ that he did not know his daughter had any injuries on her body, Ms Rowland said.

She said the evidence would be that his wife told gardaí­ that the girl used to bite herself, bang herself and pull her hair out.

The father told gardaí­that his daughter talked about seeing ghosts and that he had brought her to a priest in Morocco, counsel said.

Not consistent

She said the medical evidence would be that the injuries were not consistent with anything the parents were saying.

On day one of the trial, the jury listened to a recording of the 999 call made by the girl’s father, in which he said the girl had fallen off a bike two days earlier and that he wanted to take her to hospital because she was “crying scared”.

Under cross-examination, the paramedic agreed with James Dwyer SC, defending the father, that his client became upset at times during the call and appeared to be crying.

The trial continues before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury.