A mother of three received a two-year suspended sentence at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court yesterday for the wilful neglect and assault of her infant son.
The woman's son, who was six months old when he suffered a brain haemorrhage as a result of being assaulted in March, 1999, is now the subject of a care order. His mother, who is in her early 20s, has been allowed to continue to care for her other two children under the supervision of the Mid-Western Health Board.
Judge Carroll Moran said there had been extraordinary factors behind the woman's abnormal behaviour, which occurred over a seven-month period between 1998 and 1999. The probation officer and psychiatrist had agreed she had been unable to cope. She was a single person whose father had died around the time of the offences and she had been in an unsettling relationship with her mother.
The people helping her had agreed that, if she was to go to prison, it would have an adverse effect on her other children.
At a previous hearing, the court was told the baby was not expected to suffer any long-term damage. He had suffered what doctors described as "shaken baby syndrome" and a swollen scrotum. A CAT scan, carried out after the baby suffered a seizure, revealed he had a brain haemorrhage.
The woman, who pleaded guilty to three counts of wilful neglect and one of assault, admitted she had shouted at the baby, shaken him and thrown him on the bed, which resulted in him hitting off the headboard. The following day she had pushed him so hard into his walker that his bottom had hit the ground.