Court hears of 'appalling brutality' for mother, children

In a full care order hearing before a District Court in Dublin, Judge John Campbell found as a fact that the mother and two of her children "were the victims of sustained and gross physical and emotional abuse and neglect perpetrated on them by the father over many years".

Judge Campbell also found that the father "housed the three of them in conditions of absolute squalor, where they were denied basic amenities including toilet paper, sanitary products, food, heating and lighting".

The district court judge also found as a fact that the mother "was held as a virtual prisoner in her own home by the father, where she endured domestic violence and sexual assault over an extended period of years, as well as financial abuse by being denied any access to money".

The father in the case denies all allegations against him and contested Tusla, the Child and Family Agency's (CFA's) full care order applications for the two children and sought re-unification with the children.

In a hard hitting six-page judgement at the end of a three-day hearing into Tusla full care order applications for the two children, Judge Campbell found that the mother "was a victim of coercive control perpetrated by the father to such an extent that she was unable to protect the children".

Judge Campbell said that the event which gave rise to the proceedings occurred when the children's older sibling, attempted suicide at her school campus.

The judge said that the girl was attended to by the school principal and his colleagues in the immediate aftermath and through their actions, for which this court is grateful, her life was saved.

As part of its response, the school notified Tusla, the Child and Family Agency and An Garda Síochána.

Subsequent applications by Tusla for Emergency Care Orders were withdrawn in circumstances where the father, through his solicitor, consented to a period of voluntary care.

Interim Care Orders (ICOs) were granted on 2 October 2024 and contained a suite of terms designed to keep the children and the mother safe and directed that their addresses and locations were not to be disclosed to the father. The ICOs and those terms have continued to date.

In September 2024, after a search warrant was obtained, a Detective Garda led a search of the family home.

There was no one home on arrival and the Garda Armed Response Unit (ARU) effected entry.

Eight members were involved in the search and the Detective Garda described to the court "an overbearing stench upon entering the property, which was so overpowering that some of the team were forced to withdraw".

The witness also described the presence of flies and the absence of electricity, food, toilet paper, and cleaning and sanitary products.

The Detective Garda said that the only cooking appliance seemed to be a camp stove on top of the hob while a safe was found in the parents' bedroom and hidden behind it were thousands of euros in €50 note denominations.

Because of an ongoing criminal investigation, the Det Garda was limited in the detail that she could provide to the court.

Of all the houses the Detective Garda had searched in her 17 years on the force, this was the worst and the neighbours appeared to be unaware that a woman had been residing there.

Criticising Tusla, Judge Campbell said: "It is a terrible indictment of the Agency that members of An Garda Síochána did more for these children on September 2nd 2024 than the Agency had done in the preceding 12 years, during which the Agency had been aware of the family."

He said that an independent review will address that issue more fully in due course, "but it is sufficient for today's purposes to note that these are among the gravest cases of child abuse to have come before this court in recent times".

Judge Campbell opined "that a woman in the Ireland of the 21st century could remain effectively invisible to her neighbours and her daughters' school for years is another dreadful indictment of the agency and its child protection policies and practices, which were found completely wanting in the case of this mother and her children, who endured such appalling and sustained brutality in this house of horrors".

He said that the agency must revise its procedures "so that decent and conscientious teachers such as this principal can feel confident to report well-founded concerns to an agency that will investigate and follow them up".

Medical records for the family obtained by the court appointed Guardian ad Litem, or independent voice for the children, established that referrals had been made to the agency in 2012, 2013, 2015, and most recently in 2019.

The 2019 referral was closed due to the mother's non-engagement and Judge Campbell said that "an agency file should never again be closed because a mother 'did not engage' in circumstances such as those present in this case".

He said: "Meeting her in person and in safety and without the overbearing presence of her husband/partner should be mandatory before the agency would close its file, thereby condemning her children and herself to further suffering."

He said that "a similar obligation should be imposed on all schools to meet, in person and in safety, the mother of girls attending there, regardless of any purported cultural sensitivities".

Judge Campbell said that "if child safeguarding and child protection take a backseat to cultural sensitivities, it will only serve to consign even more children and mothers to life sentences such as were suffered in this case".

In the case, one of the children wants a relationship with her mother, but not on a full-time basis, while the second does not envisage returning to the care of either parent.

The mother opposed Tusla's full care order application concerning the child who wanted a relationship with her but left it up to the court concerning the application for the other child who does not want to return to the care of either parent.

In the written judgement published yesterday, Judge Campbell adjourned the case for a month in order to receive updates about the therapeutic programmes for the mother and her two children; Aftercare and the Independent Review.