Woman accused of murdering two-year-old child is anonymised by court

A woman accused of murdering a two-year-old child in the south of the country has had her name anonymised at the Central Criminal Court due to an order based on a recent Court of Appeal ruling.

She was due to go on trial at the Central Criminal Court on Monday but the case was postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions as the courts are not swearing new juries to hear trials.

The accused will be called again on June 10th when a new date for her trial will be fixed.

The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the deceased child, is charged with murdering the child on July 5th, 2019.

Brendan Grehan SC, defending, told the court on Monday that his client’s name should be anonymised following a recent Court of Appeal ruling on the interpretation of Section 252 of the Children’s Act.

He said it was the woman’s first time on the list and she is currently on bail.

Section 252 of the Children Act, 2001 prohibits the identification of child victims and makes it an offence to publish anything that could identify a child who is an alleged victim of an offence, including a deceased child.

Mr Justice Michael White agreed with Mr Grehan and said the accused could not be named as the deceased is a child.