Dublin parents’ child cruelty trial reaches jury deliberations

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

A jury began deliberating in the trial of two Dublin parents accused of assault and child cruelty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 28 October 2021.

The couple pleaded not guilty to two charges of assault causing serious harm and three charges of child cruelty concerning their nine-year-old daughter.

The child was found unconscious at the family home on 2 July 2019. In hospital, she was found to have multiple bruises, cuts, bite marks and burns, as well as bleeding on the brain. The report said she was dependent on carers for her basic daily needs.

Judge Martin Nolan told the jury that everyone in the case agreed the father had not been at the house when the alleged serious assault that rendered the child unconscious occurred. The judge said the prosecution alleged that the father acted in common design with the mother as part of a joint enterprise to change the child’s behaviour through physical chastisement.

The jury had deliberated for about three hours and was due to resume the following morning.