The mother of a four-year-old boy who was murdered by his father's girlfriend has told the Central Criminal Court her son’s life was gone "at the hands of pure evil".
A woman originally pleaded not guilty to the boy’s murder but changed her plea to guilty after medical evidence was heard at her trial last November.
None of those involved in the case can be named due to a court order.
The court will rule on Wednesday on an application by RTÉ and the publishers of the Irish Independent, Mediahuis, to have the order varied or lifted.
The trial heard the boy was taken to hospital in March 2021, after his father said he had fallen from a bunk bed.
However, medics found that he was covered in bruises from head to toe inflicted at different times.
He also had a broken rib, his liver was torn and he had suffered a catastrophic brain injury.
The trial was told the injuries were like those caused by a car crash or in a fall from a height and none of the bruising looked normal or accidental.
A paediatric consultant gave evidence that an operating theatre full of medics "gasped" when they saw the extent of the injuries on the child’s face and body.
His life support was turned off three days after he was brought to hospital.
The woman had already pleaded guilty to two counts of cruelty against the boy.
He lived briefly with the woman and his father, while his mother was suffering from mental health problems.
Love and happiness
The boy’s mother gave victim impact evidence to the court after placing a black and white photograph of her son in front of her.
She described her son as a clever little child who had brought so much love and happiness into all their lives.
She said she had complete trust in his father and his father’s partner to mind and protect him.
His mother said her son thought he was "a little man" and would help her look after younger siblings.
He always looked out for his loved ones and slept in bed with her at night.
If they saw a homeless person, she said he would ask for him to be given some pizza and would worry about him later.
She described him as loving his grub. He would go to sleep with a little teddy as he was afraid of the dark, she said.
He loved chocolate Kinder eggs and would always have a little car or toy in his hand.
She said the phone call from gardaí telling her to get to Cork University Hospital straight away was "the worst phone call any mother could get".
When she got there she said she saw her beautiful little child hooked up to wires.
She said his head was so swollen it was ten times bigger than normal and he was black and blue.
When she asked her son’s father what had happened, he said he had fallen out of the bunk bed and also claimed the child had begun pinching himself, something she had never seen him do.
She told the court her whole world ended when doctors told her there was nothing else they could do for him.
She said doctors put him in her arms and she had to watch her beautiful child’s heartbeat "go down and down".
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'Pure evil'
She said at her son’s funeral, his father, and his father’s partner stood up and told everyone how much they loved him.
She said she had told her son monsters did not exist but she said "actually they do".
It was not until later in the year, she found out her son's life had been taken.
She said his life was gone "at the hands of pure evil", taken by someone he had loved and trusted.
She said the family's lives were broken without her son.
Last thing at night, she said she was haunted by the image of her beautiful son, left locked in a room, crying in pain, not understanding what was happening to him. She said she knew he would have been so frightened.
She told the court the word that came to mind was "betrayal".
It was very hard to understand why they did what they did and if medical assistance had been sought immediately, maybe her son would be alive, she said.
She added that she could not imagine the pain her son suffered in the weeks leading up to his death.
The woman said they had to sit through five days of a trial, hearing medical evidence which retraumatised them, even though she knew it was necessary to get justice for her beautiful son.
The court heard the convicted woman told gardaí the four-year-old boy was "bold and cheeky".
He would be put "on the bold step" as well as "grounded" and sent to his room.
When he was grounded, he was not allowed downstairs and would have to sit on the floor of his room.
The boy had only been living with the woman and his father for a number of months.
It had been agreed with the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, that he would have a weekly video call with his mother and other family members, but the family was frequently told the boy was "bold" and could not appear on video.
The boy was not allowed downstairs for a number of family birthday parties.
A relation who brought chocolate eggs over for him was not allowed to see him or give them to him.
The trial heard the extent of the boy's bruising would have been obvious to anyone who saw him.
CCTV footage
Detective Sergeant Shane O'Neill told prosecuting counsel, Anne Rowland, that CCTV footage from the morning the child was injured showed the woman going up and down the stairs constantly.
At one point she stayed upstairs for more than 15 minutes and then googled "concussion" and "why is it bad if you bang your head and go to sleep".
The child's father had gone to work, and there were ten voice calls from the woman to him as well as text messages asking him to come home, including a message telling him he "shouldn't have left".
The woman later told gardaí the boy's behaviour had begun to go downhill, that he was a "wild child" and they could not let his behaviour go.
She said he was "self-harming", punching himself and running into things.
On another occasion she told gardaí, she loved the child but on some days she thought "take the c**t away from me".
She told social workers that the only time she had harmed him was around Christmas, where she had pushed him into his room with her leg and that he had tripped and hit his head.
When the child's injuries were outlined to her, she said the doctors "must have been counting freckles".
She later told gardaí she had been arguing with her partner and that she had snapped and started shaking the child and screaming at him to behave.
She said she did not remember hitting him, she only remembered shaking him.
He fell on the floor and when she went back upstairs, she found him unconscious, having soiled himself.
'Normal four-year-old boy'
The court heard other relations told gardaí the child was a "normal, four-year-old boy", that he was not difficult but had lots of energy.
They said he was a very happy, cheery little boy, who was always on the go.
The woman's defence counsel, Michael Lynn said he had been instructed to tell the court she was profoundly sorry for her actions.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said he would impose the mandatory life sentence on Wednesday and would also sentence the woman for the cruelty offences on that day.
He will also rule on the application by RTÉ and Mediahuis to be able to identify the woman and the little boy.
The boy's father is already serving a seven-year sentence for assisting an offender, endangering the child and child cruelty.
