Foster mother recalls first contact with allegedly neglected children
The foster mother of two girls who were allegedly neglected by their father has told a jury that when they arrived at her house they were filthy, wearing soiled underpants and the youngest child was “walking alive” with lice.
The woman gave evidence that the four- and eight-year-old girls were not properly toilet-trained and ate “like savages”.
A social worker who described the level of dirt and grime on the girls said she initially believed they had dark hair and it was only on her next visit to them, after they had been washed by their foster parents, that she discovered they actually had fairer coloured hair.
The accused man, who can not be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the rape and sexual assault of his now 10-year-old daughter on a date in September 2007 and the sexual assault of his now 13-year-old son on dates between January and February 2007.
He also pleaded not guilty to the willful assault of his three sons in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering, injury to the children's health or seriously affect their well-being on dates between January and September 2007.
He further denied the wilful neglect of all five children, now aged between seven and 14 years old, by failing to provide adequate clothing or food.
The foster mother of the man’s two daughters told Ms Orla Crowe BL (with Ms Isobel Kennedy SC), prosecuting, that the girls arrived at her home in September 2007 aged eight and four.
She said they were “absolutely filthy” and were both wearing soiled underpants.
She said the younger child's hair was “walking alive with lice” and it took her two to three weeks to fully deal with the infestation. She said eldest girl’s hair was like straw, she was initially unable to brush it and she did not think anything would live in it.
The woman said the girls were not adequately toilet-trained and she would find “poo” on the bedroom floor. She said they never used toilet paper and when they did would use the whole roll.
She said they ate “like savages” and she dared not look at them while they were eating as they feared the food would be taken away. She said the younger girl would play with the dogs bowl and she had to stop her.
She said they ate with their hands and when given a fork “used it like a shovel”.
The woman said the elder girl was “extremely thin” while the younger girl was “a little pudding, not as weightless”.
She said the girls "had nothing" educationally and the eldest girl struggled to be accepted when she started school. "Everything was a struggle for her," she said.
The woman told Ms Crowe it was probably the worst case she had ever encountered and commented: “We are in counselling as a result.”
She told defence counsel, Mr Kieran Kelly BL, (with Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC), that she would have expected the four-year-old girl to be toilet trained, know her colours and be able to play without violence but said she had none of those qualities.
She agreed with Mr Kelly that they went on “normal family trips” and days out but said she could not leave the girls with anyone as they were “quite likely to come out with terrible things”.
A social worker who attended at a garda station in September 2007 to collect the children after obtaining an emergency care order said the first thing she noticed on meeting the children was that they were not dressed for the weather. “The two girls were wearing skirts and t-shirts and it was a cold day,” she said.
She said she noticed the girls' mother was dressed appropriately to the weather “which was contrary to the children”.
She said the level of dirt and grime on the children was above the everyday and there was obviously a pattern in the family of not washing. She said on seeing the two girls she initially believed they had dark coloured hair but was surprised on her next visit to them in their foster home to find they had fair hair.
The social worker told Mr Kelly that she did not believe the children would have left their coats in a car and said she had asked for their coats and was told there were none.
The eldest child, a 14-year-old boy, told Ms Kennedy that his father did hit him “on the backside” with his hands, shoes, a cane or a whip but that he thought his father only did so when he misbehaved.
“He went a little too far but I think he did it for my own good,” he said.
He told Ms Kennedy that he had enough to eat but sometimes he got hungry in the middle of the night and got up to make a sandwich. He said his father slapped him when he found out.
The boy told Mr O’Carroll that he was “quite misbehaved” as a small boy and agreed when his father punished him there was a good reason. He said he had “a wardrobe full of clothes”.
The foster mother of the 14-year-old boy said he was aged 11 when he came to stay with her. She said on the day he arrived his clothes were “very ill-fitting and dirty” and she had to buy him new clothes.
She said he had “the reading ability of a junior infant” and his numeracy skills were also bad.
The woman said he would eat “to the point of being sick” and ate quickly. She said he was an “extremely” angry child.
A second social worker who was present when the children were taken into care said the children “ate hungrily” when they were given chips at the garda station. She said the eldest boy put chips into his pockets as he was eating.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Elizabeth Dunne and a jury of five men and seven women.
