Mother charged with murder of baby son

A TWENTY-three-year-old Mayo woman has been charged with the murder of her four-month-old son, who died as a result of head trauma in 2017.
The defendant, who cannot be named due to reporting restrictions, was brought before last week’s sitting of Westport District Court. Detective Sergeant James Carroll told the court he arrested the defendant at 10.50am on March 7 and conveyed her to Castlebar Garda Station, where she was charged with murder.
The victim was pronounced dead on January 1, 2017 after his life support machine was switched off at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital. A post mortem found that the cause of death was due to head trauma.
The defendant sat in the body of the court accompanied by a female garda and did not make any comment during the short hearing in front of Judge Fiona Lydon.
Mr Vincent Deane, State Solictor, said that he was applying for the defendant to be remanded in custody for a week for service of the book of evidence.
Judge Lydon remanded the defendant in custody to appear before Castlebar District Court on March 14.