A woman has been jailed for four years at Galway Circuit Criminal Court after she was found guilty of charges of neglect and cruelty in relation to seven of her children in the west of Ireland between 2006 and 2011.
The father of two of her children was spared a prison sentence after pleading guilty to five counts of assault and neglect.
The seven children were taken into care in 2011 and the court heard several still carry feelings of abandonment, inadequacy and fear towards their mother.
The children often went without food and would be left in the care of strangers while she went drinking.
Judge Karen O’Connor said the woman created an “atmosphere of fear and brutality”, and noted her lack of remorse.
Our Courts Correspondent Frank Greaney reports from Galway Circuit Criminal Court:
