Abuse mum loses appeal

Abuse mum loses appeal

22 October 2014

A LECALE mother who was jailed for subjecting her children to a catalogue of sexual abuse, neglect and cruelty, has failed to have her prison sentence reduced at the Court of Appeal.

The 58 year-old woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her victims, was jailed for five years and eight months earlier this year after admitting a string of offences against her children dating back to the late 1970s.

The court heard that four children suffered at the hands of both parents, two uncles and two other men, including an ex-RUC officer, at various addresses in south Down.

In a family setting described as “dysfunctional and hopelessly chaotic”, the woman forced some of her victims to watch as she had sex with other men.

One child was beaten with a poker, pushed into a mirror and sexually abused.

The children, the court also heard, were forced to live in filthy conditions, with mice pings found in a cereal box and dog excrement on the floor.

There were no sheets or pillows on beds and one child, who suffered from bed wetting, was often left to lie in her own urine.

The children were also ridiculed by both parents.

The woman’s legal team last week argued in court that the woman should have received a shorter sentence for 12 counts of wilful neglect of her children, five counts of wilful assault and six of gross indecency.

Barristers argued that others involved in the abuse were given shorter sentences with the father facing just four years and an uncle sentenced to two years and nine months for gross indecency and indecent assault.

Another uncle, who pleaded guilty to two counts of gross indecency, received a six-month suspended prison sentence.

But prosecuting counsel successfully argued that the woman had been the driving force behind what was inflicted on her children.

He also said the cruelty, gross indecency and neglect to which she admitted was at an extreme level.

Senior judges at the Court of Appeal rejected claims the jail term was excessive and held that a 20 per cent discount, which the defendant received for pleading guilty, was generous.

Lord Justice Girvan said there were “depraved acts involving separate children, separate occasions and a number of separate sexual partners.”

He said the sentencing judge’s approach could not be faulted and cited a pre-sentence report in which the mother showed no remorse or distress about the fact that her children felt abused by her.