A CRUEL and “evil” man who beat and ridiculed three children has been remanded on bail for sentencing tomorrow (Wednesday).
The man, who cannot be named in order to protect the identities of the child victims, pleaded guilty before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to three counts of child cruelty.
The three children were aged between 12 and 14 at the time.
Harrowing evidence was given by prosecuting counsel, John O’Sullivan BL, last Friday.
Mr O’Sullivan said Gardaí were alerted to a house from members of the public who reported hearing “blood curdling screams” coming from the children in the early hours of July 10, 2019.
Gardaí encountered a chaotic scene in the house, there was a “considerable amount of blood”, and a young girl was “hysterical”, the court heard.
There were a total of five children in the house, including a baby and a toddler, but the two younger children were not harmed.
A violent row had broken out in the house and the man assaulted two young girls, after one of them tried to stop the man assaulting an older female.
The man punched both girls in their faces using a closed fist and an elbow, it was heard.
Mr O’Sullivan said that one of the girls, who was bleeding significantly from her nose, “escaped and sought refuge in a neighbouring house”.
Gardaí searched the property where the row occurred and found one girl with a “considerable amount of blood coming from her face”.
They found a second girl in a neighbouring property with “extensive bruising to her left eye, after she had fled”.
The two girls and an older female were treated in hospital for injuries sustained on the night.
The man told Gardaí on the night that he was involved in an argument with an older female but denied assaulting the children.
The woman told Gardaí she had self-harmed and that she had assaulted the children.
Gardaí found a “significant amount of blood-staining in an upstairs bedroom of the house where the two girls were assaulted”, said Mr O’Sullivan.
Witnesses told Gardaí they heard “two girls screaming”, and that a boy at the house was in “a state of panic”.
One witness told Gardaí: “I thought she (the girl) was being murdered, they were the most horrible screams I’ve ever heard.”
Another witness said they heard “blood curdling screams” coming from one of the girls.
When paramedics arrived on the scene they treated one of the girls for swelling and bruising to her left eye, left arm, and scratches.
The three innocent victims later told Gardaí the man assaulted them by slapping and punching them and calling them “scumbags”.
One of the victim’s described the man as “evil” in a victim impact statement read in the court by Mr O’Sullivan.
The three victims said they had been physically and emotionally traumatised by the man.
The defendant, who initially denied having anything to do with the children’s injuries, wept in court.
He was arrested and charged after the three victims gave statements to Gardaí alleging he, and not the older female, had assaulted them on the night.
The court heard the man has a history of anger issues and has since taken steps to remedy his “very short temper”.
The court heard the man “fully accepts” the evidence of the children and that he was responsible for harming the children.
The man’s barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, said there could be “no minimising” the man’s behaviour on the night.
“It was unacceptable, absolutely awful” Mr Nicholas said.
Judge Dermot Sheehan imposed reporting restrictions and remanded the man on continuing bail for sentence on July 31.
