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21/01/2010
Child 'Snow Walk' Trial Ends
It will be next month before the outcome of a bizarre case of alleged child cruelty in Co Tyrone is known.
Both defendants are due in court for the judgment hearing in February after the case against them ended this week.
Closing submissions were heard in Omagh Magistrates Court yesterday in the case of a mother and stepfather accused of cruelty after the child was found wandering dressed only in a pair of white pyjamas outside a shop in the town in February last year.
However, it was claimed that the five-year-old girl found wandering barefoot in the snow in Omagh may in fact have been sleepwalking.
The court has heard that the girl left the house while the adults were asleep and that a younger child was removed from the parents' bed after police were unable to waken them.
Prosecuting barrister Andrew Crawford told the court yesterday that there were a number of issues to consider including that the child was found "wandering in snow on an extremely cold morning", which he added was not disputed and might be likely to cause suffering.
He also said that the court had heard evidence the door was not locked to prevent the child going out.
He added: "We have heard evidence the house was very untidy, clothes everywhere, bottles, cigarette butts, inadequate bedding."
Mr Crawford said that two police officers had given evidence that they smelt alcohol from the defendants and evidence the man and woman couldn't be wakened.
However, defence solicitor Joe McCann, acting on behalf of the father of the younger child, said his client and his partner had no reason to suspect the child would leave in the night as she had done nothing like it before.
He said the man stated there may have been previous incidents when she may have been sleepwalking, and said that in the case of the younger child, if a house perceived to be untidy was negligence and likely to cause suffering or injury then every parent who left an unclean dish or hadn't brushed the floor in a few days was also guilty.
(BMcC/GK)
Both defendants are due in court for the judgment hearing in February after the case against them ended this week.
Closing submissions were heard in Omagh Magistrates Court yesterday in the case of a mother and stepfather accused of cruelty after the child was found wandering dressed only in a pair of white pyjamas outside a shop in the town in February last year.
However, it was claimed that the five-year-old girl found wandering barefoot in the snow in Omagh may in fact have been sleepwalking.
The court has heard that the girl left the house while the adults were asleep and that a younger child was removed from the parents' bed after police were unable to waken them.
Prosecuting barrister Andrew Crawford told the court yesterday that there were a number of issues to consider including that the child was found "wandering in snow on an extremely cold morning", which he added was not disputed and might be likely to cause suffering.
He also said that the court had heard evidence the door was not locked to prevent the child going out.
He added: "We have heard evidence the house was very untidy, clothes everywhere, bottles, cigarette butts, inadequate bedding."
Mr Crawford said that two police officers had given evidence that they smelt alcohol from the defendants and evidence the man and woman couldn't be wakened.
However, defence solicitor Joe McCann, acting on behalf of the father of the younger child, said his client and his partner had no reason to suspect the child would leave in the night as she had done nothing like it before.
He said the man stated there may have been previous incidents when she may have been sleepwalking, and said that in the case of the younger child, if a house perceived to be untidy was negligence and likely to cause suffering or injury then every parent who left an unclean dish or hadn't brushed the floor in a few days was also guilty.
(BMcC/GK)
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