Diane Ward gets suspended sentence for manslaughter

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Diane Ward received a seven-year suspended sentence for the manslaughter of her eight-year-old son Anthony. The proceedings were reported on 7 July 2014.

She had pleaded guilty to manslaughter. She killed her son at their home in Co Cork on 3 September 2012.

A psychiatric report prepared for the prosecution said she did not meet the legal criteria for insanity, but her capacity to reason about the situation and the choices open to her was substantially diminished. It said any intention formed in deciding to kill herself and her son was a product of diminished mental capacity.

Mr Justice Barry White ordered her release from the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum to a mental health facility in Cork. As a condition of the suspended sentence, she must reside there as a voluntary patient until doctors consider it appropriate for her to return to the community. Thereafter, she must remain in contact with probation and welfare services and accept any regime considered appropriate.