Sister of Offaly GP accused of manslaughter says she was 'devoted, selfless and caring mother'
The partner of an Offaly GP accused of killing her 11-year-old daughter has told her trial that she would never have hurt her child.
Bernadette Scully has pleaded NOT guilty to the manslaughter of Emily Barut (PRO: BA-ROOT) at their home at Emvale, Bachelor’s Walk in Tullamore in September 2012.
The prosecution has accused her of administering a toxic level of the sedative Chloral hydrate.
Emily was severely disabled, but Ms Scully’s partner Andrius Kozlovskis said she was her “number one priority” and he didn’t think she saw her life without her.
Andrius Kozlovskis and Bernadette Scully have been together since 2008.
Emily was severely disabled, and on the day she died, he said he made two trips to the pharmacy for sedatives and anti-depressants.
He said Bernadette became agitated when he came back the first time because he hadn’t got enough.
After returning with food later that evening, he said she fell asleep on the couch. He said she was exhausted.
Emily was cold when he later checked on her, and he became panicked and knew something had gone very wrong when he couldn’t wake Bernadette.
It later emerged she had taken an overdose.
He said he never thought she was suicidal and never spoke about how their lives would have been without Emily.
He said she was an “easy child to love” and Bernadette’s number one priority.
The 58-year-old denies killing her daughter by administering a toxic level of the sedative Chloral hydrate.
Earlier today, her sister described her as a “devoted, selfless and caring mother”.
The trial of a GP accused of killing her daughter has heard the amount of a sedative found in her blood was ten times more than the therapeutic level.
Bernadette Scully has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Emily Barut at their home at Emvale, Bachelor’s Walk in Tullamore, Co. Offaly in 2012.
Professor Hans Maurer, a German toxicologist received various samples from the State laboratory in Ireland a few months after Emily’s death.
In her blood, they found 220miiligrams per litre of the sedative Chloral hydrate, he said.
The therapeutic level of the drug is between 5 and 20.
Emily was born with severe physical and learning disabilities and the court heard yesterday that her mother took great care of her during her 11 years.
She underwent surgery a few weeks before she died on September 15th 2012, and was in a lot of pain and struggling to sleep.
When her partner checked on Emily on the evening in question, he told Gardaí she was cold and he called for an ambulance.
Bernadette was unconscious after taking an overdose herself.
It is the prosecution’s case that she killed her by an act of gross negligence – that she had a duty of care to her as both her mother and doctor, and was in breach of that duty.
