'Beautiful and caring' boy (4) murdered by 'pure evil' of stepmother, court hears

Eoin Reynolds

The mother of a "beautiful, clever, happy and caring" four-year-old boy, who was murdered by his stepmother, has said her son's life was taken through the "pure evil" of a woman the boy loved and trusted.

The child's mother said she thinks of her son "crying for help, not understanding what was happening" and said she knows the child would have been frightened and looking for her.

She described the actions of the stepmother and the boy's father as a "betrayal" after she had trusted them to look after her "beautiful, innocent baby boy".

She added: "I find it so hard to understand why they did what they did. Why medical assistance was not sought so that maybe he would be here today. I can't begin to imagine the pain he suffered in the weeks leading up to his death."

The stepmother, a woman in her 30s from the south west of the country, pleaded guilty to the four-year-old's murder on the fourth day of her trial at the Central Criminal Court last year. The court heard on Monday that the defendant has no previous convictions.

The trial heard that on March 13th, 2021, the child's father phoned emergency services, saying his son had fallen from the top bunk of his bed one hour earlier and could not be roused.

When paramedics arrived they found the boy lying on the floor of his bedroom, unresponsive. They rushed him to hospital and despite emergency intervention and surgery, he did not recover.

Medical professionals noted numerous bruises of various ages all over the child's face, head, torso and legs that were indicative of non-accidental injuries or abuse.

The father explained the injuries by saying that his son was the "the clumsiest child ever" and that he had run into a door or been hurt playing football.

However, it emerged during the stepmother's trial that he had been subjected to physical abuse for weeks and spent four days grounded in his room before his stepmother shook him and struck his head off the floor.

He had also suffered a blunt force injury to his abdomen that lacerated his liver. A pathologist found that either injury to the head or the liver would have caused death on their own.

The defendant claimed that the boy was a "bold cheeky child" and often had to be grounded. She told gardaí that on the day the boy suffered his fatal injuries, she "snapped" and recalled "shaking him and screaming at him to behave" before he fell on the floor.

The parties cannot be identified due to an order made by Mr Justice Paul McDermott under the Children Act to protect the identity of a child witness.

Mr Justice McDermott will sentence the stepmother on Wednesday to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murder, before hearing an application by broadcaster RTÉ and media group Mediahuis to lift the order preventing the defendant's identification.

He will also sentence the stepmother for two counts of child cruelty in relation to wilful assaults on the same child in January and March 2021.

In November 2024, the child's father was sentenced to seven years in prison having pleaded guilty to endangerment, neglect and impeding the apprehension or prosecution of the stepmother, knowing or believing she had murdered his son.

Passing sentence at the time, Mr Justice McDermott described the father's actions as "shameful" and said he bore a high level of criminal responsibility for failing to nurture and protect his son.

In her statement today, the child's mother said her son was born in early 2016, a "fine, healthy little boy". She described him as a "clever little child who brought so much love and happiness into all our lives".

When his sister played peekaboo with him or tickled him, he would laugh, making everyone else laugh.

"He had the biggest smile and the most beautiful brown eyes. He was a perfect little boy," she said.

When he potty trained himself at just 18 months, he felt he was a "little man" and would insist on walking instead of going in his buggy. He adored his younger siblings and would insist on helping to care for them and would kiss and cuddle them, she said.

One of the mother's treasured possessions is a video of her son singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to his little sister. "He was such a caring little boy," she said.

When he saw a homeless man sitting on the ground, he asked his mother to give the man a pizza and later that night he worried about him and sought assurance from his mother that he would be "okay".

After receiving the "worst phone call any mother could get," she recalled being in hospital with the boy's father and the defendant when doctors came to say there was nothing they could do.

She made the "hardest decision a mother could make" to turn her son's life support off but before that happened, the boy's father and stepmother asked to be left alone with him.

She said: "I can only imagine what they were saying to my poor child's lifeless body."

After the life support machine was switched off, she recalled watching her "beautiful little child's heartbeat go down and down" until he flatlined and she begged doctors to turn the machine back on.

She planned the funeral herself and recalled how the child's father and stepmother "stood in God's holy house and said how much they loved him and that he was a superhero."

She said his life was taken by "pure evil", by someone her son "loved and trusted".

Earlier on Monday, Det Gda Shane O'Neill told Ms Rowland that in September 2020, the child's mother was suffering mental health problems and agreed to allow her son to live with his father, who was living with the defendant.

The mother and other family members were supposed to have a video call with the child every Sunday afternoon, but over a period of ten weeks, they reported that the child appeared only twice.

On other occasions they were told he could not speak because he was "being bold". In February 2021, a family friend noticed a mark on the child's face which the accused said was the result of an accident.

A friend of the defendant told gardaí that during that time, the defendant confided in her that she was "unable to cope" and had gone to her sister's house for a few days for a break.

The same friend brought a chocolate egg to the house for the child in late February but was told the child was upstairs because he had been bold. The defendant refused to allow her to go upstairs to give the egg to the child.

The same friend found out some days later that the child still had not received the chocolate.

In early March, the defendant complained to her friend that the child's father did not want people calling to the house because of the boy's behaviour.

At two family celebrations between March 9 and the fatal assault on March 13th, the child remained in his room and was not allowed to participate. In garda interviews, the defendant said the child was grounded from March 9th for four days due to his behaviour.

While grounded, he was not allowed to leave his room other than to go to the toilet or for emergencies and had to sit on the floor, not the bed.

At 12:46pm on March 13th, 2021, the child's father phoned emergency services, saying his son had fallen from the top bunk of his bed one hour earlier and could not be roused. He described his son as "the clumsiest child ever".