Overview
- The boy’s mother delivered a victim impact statement describing her son’s death as the result of “pure evil,” as the Central Criminal Court heard details of his final hours.
- Mr Justice Paul McDermott said he will impose the mandatory life sentence on Wednesday and will also sentence the woman for two earlier child-cruelty convictions.
- The court will rule the same day on applications by RTÉ and Mediahuis to vary or lift a reporting restriction that currently prevents identifying those involved.
- The defendant changed her plea to guilty to murder after medical evidence last November, with doctors detailing extensive non‑accidental injuries including a torn liver, a broken rib and catastrophic brain trauma.
- Evidence included CCTV of the woman repeatedly going upstairs before the incident, her online searches about concussion, and her statements to gardaí that she had snapped and shaken the child, while the boy’s father is already serving seven years for endangerment, cruelty and assisting an offender.