Father receives three year sentence for child cruelty

A FATHER of two was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with the final 18 months suspended after he was found guilty of a single charge of cruelty to his ex-partner’s child.
The 40-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim, was found guilty by a jury of the charge, involving a then 12-year-old girl, at their home in 2009.
The incident of cruelty occurred when the man was looking after the girl and her siblings sometime between October 1, 2009, and December 31, 2009. The victim was put out in the back garden wearing only her underwear because the trousers she was wearing were too big for her and kept falling down.
The court heard that when the girl put on a top, the man took it off her and slapped her leg, leaving a bruise.
In a victim impact statement, the girl who is now 18, told Castlebar Circuit Court, she suffered emotional distress due to what had happened to her, the symptoms of which included nightmares and bed wetting.
She said the incident was cruel and unnecessary and claimed it was just one example of what he did to her and her siblings when her mother was not around. She said she had since received counselling and was getting everything off her chest.
“What [defendant] did to me will always affect me, but it will never ruin my future,” she said.
The man had pleaded not guilty to 84 counts of child cruelty which were alleged to have occurred to the victim and two of her siblings on dates unknown between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2009.
The trial, which took place over three days in February, heard evidence from the three siblings – one boy and two girls, who are now all adults. They claimed that the man would slap them hard, hit them with a sticks and also make them stand in the ‘bold corner’ on one leg for up to five hours.
The west of Ireland man denied the charges when interviewed by gardaí. He accepted that he slapped them when they were bold, but claimed he ‘treated them like my own’.
The jury was directed to acquit the man on six of the counts by Judge Rory MacCabe, and found him not guilty on 77 counts.
At last week’s sentence hearing, the court heard that the defendant had an alcohol problem since a young age and that did not show remorse. Mr Diarmuid Connolly, counsel for the accused, said it was inevitable he would not be remorseful for something he claimed he did not do.
Mr Connolly said his client has children with the victim’s mother and no longer has any relationship with them. He said he could not attend his son’s Confirmation because the victim’s brother was his sponsor.
A probation report stated he was of high risk of reoffending, but Mr Connolly said this was due to alcohol and nothing to do with the charge he was convicted of. The court also heard the defendant has 30 previous convictions.
Judge MacCabe said the defendant’s alcohol problems could not justify the cruelty to the child, and said that the defendant’s view that he did not need help in dealing with his alcohol problem was misguided.
He said the appropriate sentence was three years, but suspended the final 18 months of the sentence for two years.