The sentence hearing of a woman convicted of beating, starving and neglecting her children is due to get underway in Galway today.
In January, she was found guilty of 29 charges which included pushing her son down a flight of stairs and banging her daughter’s head off a counter.
After deliberating for just under four hours, the jurors returned with guilty verdicts on 29 of the 42 charges and she was acquitted on the rest.
The 9-day trial heard distressing details about the level of neglect and cruelty experienced by her children at various addresses in the west of Ireland between 2006 and 2011 – when they were taken into care.
The court heard she used to pour washing-up liquid down the throats of two of her sons and laughed at one son when he banged his head after she pushed him down the stairs.
She used to go missing for days and would leave them in the care of strange men, only to return hung over – which usually led to them being beaten with wooden spoons and leather belts.
The children’s Victim Impact Statements will be read out at her sentence hearing later this morning.
