Judge begins jury charge in Bernadette Scully manslaughter trial

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

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy had begun charging the jury in Dr Bernadette Scully’s manslaughter trial at the Central Criminal Court. Closing speeches took place on 13 December 2016, and the judge was due to continue his charge the following morning.

The proceedings were reported on 13 December 2016.

Dr Bernadette Scully was charged with unlawfully killing her profoundly disabled daughter, Emily Barut, aged 11, at their home at Emvale, Bachelor's Walk, Tullamore, on 15 September 2012. She has pleaded not guilty. The allegation involved gross negligence through administering an excessive quantity of chloral hydrate.

Tara Burns SC, prosecuting, said ten times the therapeutic level of chloral hydrate’s metabolite had been found in Emily Barut’s system. She cited the State Pathologist’s finding that chloral hydrate intoxication caused the death. She said Prof Marie Cassidy accepted that Emily Barut’s illnesses could have caused her death but maintained that intoxication was a substantial cause.

Dr Bernadette Scully said she administered chloral hydrate when her daughter became upset at 2am and 6am, then gave more after a massive fit after 11am.

Kenneth Fogarty SC, defending, said chloral hydrate was the only medicine ready and available that had worked previously. He said his client faced a seizure unlike any she had seen before and that her daughter would die if it continued. He argued that eyewitness evidence of the fit was being ignored and that the postmortem indicated a possible terminal seizure which had not been investigated. He asked for a not-guilty verdict.