DPP to appeal penalty in ‘cruelty’ case

The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) is to appeal the suspended sentence handed down in the case of a Clare mother accused of cruelly treating eight of her children last February on the grounds of undue leniency.

The eldest child in the case made a submission through her solicitor, Mr Patrick Moylan, calling for the DPP to appeal the sentence. The teenager had given a victim impact statement and felt that her call for the court to jail her mother went unheard.

The mother in the case received a four year suspended sentence at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court in respect of eight charges of child cruelty.

Having reviewed the case, the DPP has decided to appeal the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal on the grounds of undue leniency.

Speaking on behalf of his client, who cannot be named for legal reasons, Mr Patrick Moylan said, “The DPP have confirmed that they are appealing the sentence imposed for undue leniency. We are obviously pleased that the submissions we made have brought about this. She is pleased because she felt her voice wasn’t heard at the Circuit Criminal Court. She did deliver a victim impact statement but she felt she wasn’t heard.”

In her submission to the DPP, she called on the office to appeal the sentence, given the “horrific nature of the neglect”.

She reiterated aspects of her victim impact statement, which was read to the court, about how the children had to fend for themselves growing up and how, at the age of eight, she had to look after her premature baby sister while her mother was in the pub.

It is also stated in the letter that “the children were subjected to physical and mental abuse and were not in any way taught how to behave as normal children”.

It is expected that it will take a number of months before the appeal is heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal and it will be based on the transcript of the trial.