Two-year old girl found abandoned at 5am on Letterkenny roadside

A two-year-old girl was found half-dressed, cold and upset at 5am after being left alone at a roadside in Letterkenny by her father.

The man will be sentenced next week at Letterkenny Circuit Court on a charge of child cruelty over the incident in August, 2020.

The man, who is in his 20s, cannot be named due to legal reasons in order to prevent the child from being identified.

The accused sent a picture of the toddler standing wearing a coat, no trousers and no shoes to her mother - his ex-partner - and another individual.

His ex-partner was out socialising and the accused became jealous when she would not disclose her location.

Sergeant Frank McDaid told Ms Patricia McLaughlin BL, prosecuting, that two men were walking home from a house party at 5am when they heard what they believed to be a young child crying.

They found a little girl who was described as being ‘visibly upset’ on the footpath at the entrance to a construction site. The girl was wearing a onesie and her legs were bare. She had no shoes on and was very cold.

The men began knocking on doors in an attempt to find the girl’s home. After around 20 minutes, they called Gardai, who took the child. Soon after, the girl’s mother contacted Letterkenny Garda Station and told them that her ex-partner had called her 30 times.

The woman became concerned when the man sent her a message threatening her that if she didn’t tell him where she was that he would leave the child ‘at the top of the road’.

When Gardai arrested the man, he told officers: ‘Aye, I was expecting this silly thing’. The man was interviewed four times and admitted to Gardai that he had gone to another location and woke his daughter from her sleep before leaving her at the roadside. He also admitted taking a photo, which he sent to two people, including the child’s mother.

The child’s mother, in a victim impact statement which was read to the court, said her ex-partner was very aggressive towards her on the night in question and called her 30 times in the space of an hour.

She said a half-bottle of cold milk was found beside her daughter when she was located. The woman said that her daughter now ‘struggles to be around most people’. The girl has become scared of cars and won’t sleep in her own bed.

“It was a really traumatic time,” the woman said.

Ms Fiona Crawford BL, barrister for the accused, said her client ‘got himself into a temper about his ex-partner’. The man admitted to using the child ‘as a pawn in a jealous row’, Ms Crawford said.

While the man hasn’t seen his daughter since the incident in August 2020, Ms Crawford said he hoped to be permitted access again.

“He appreciates that he has a very long road ahead of him,” Ms Crawford said, “He is willing and prepared for supervised access and he will undertake parenting courses.”

Ms Crawford said her client offered ‘absolutely no excuse’ other than to say that he ‘got himself into a temper and became annoyed’.

Ms Crawford said: “He realises the dangers of what could have happened and he is eternally grateful to the two gentlemen, who found his daughter and saved her life.”

Sergeant McDaid agreed that the accused co-operated fully with Gardai and that he appeared ‘very remorseful for what had happened’. Sergeant McDaid agreed with Ms Crawford’s suggestion that the man was ‘very sorry and ashamed’ for what had happened.

“He outlined how stupid and senseless it was and his emotions got the better of him,” she said. “His actions were totally selfish. He was disgusted and ashamed of himself.”

Ms Crawford said her client ‘wished that he could go back in time’.

The court was told that the man has a previous conviction for possession of a controlled drug.

Judge John Aylmer said he would pass sentence on Tuesday next, May 9.