A 30-year-old man charged with child cruelty left a baby alone in a car to escape from gardaí, Tullamore District Court has heard.
The man appeared before the court for a sentencing hearing after he had pleaded guilty to child cruelty.
A garda outlined how on 9 August 2025 a woman picked up a child and its mother and travelled with the child's father to an apartment in a midlands town.
There was a party in the apartment where cocaine was taken and alcohol was consumed while the baby was put to bed at about 8pm.
All the adults continued drinking and taking drugs, Judge Ronan Munro was told.
At around 9am an argument broke out between the child's mother and the other woman.
The garda agreed with prosecution counsel Shane Geraghty, BL, that the evidence was the child's mother threw "three or four glasses and a candle" at the other woman.
When the child's mother was allegedly told to calm down by the 30-year-old man she picked up a knife and it was taken out of her hand by the other woman.
The baby woke up again and came into the kitchen where there was glass on the floor.
The apartment was the residence of the woman who brought the parents and baby to the party, and she then said she wanted the parents out.
The father said he would organise a lift but the child's mother took the other woman's car keys and ran out to the vehicle where the baby was put in the back.
The child's mother drove off with the baby's father in the passenger seat.
A report about the stolen car was made to gardaí, and that afternoon a garda saw a man, subsequently identified as the accused, walking away from the vehicle outside a house and through bushes.
The garda found a baby alone in a car seat in the back of the car with no nappy on and the "babygro soaked through with urine".
An ambulance was called and the baby was brought to a nearby house and dressed in a nappy and she "drank two full bottles in a row".
The baby's mother was then seen shouting outside a house with the woman she had partied with earlier, and they were said to be "under the influence".
The baby was brought to Regional Hospital Mullingar and after being assessed was released into the custody of her maternal grandmother.
Judge Munro was told the man had 131 previous convictions and is currently in prison for a separate offence.
He had been offending since the age of 13 and had become addicted to drugs but said he was "clean" since going into prison last year.
Defence counsel David Nugent, BL, said it had been "pure chaos" on the night and said the accused man had left the scene where the car was when gardaí arrived and the baby was not left on her own for a long period of time.
Mr Nugent said his client was the youngest child in a large family and had been adversely affected when his mother left when he was six.
Though he was involved in crime from a young age he had completed his Junior Certificate and was with Youth Reach for a period, along with various periods of employment.
In his own evidence, the man said he was a father-of-three who had a new partner and she had given birth to his third child shortly before he went into prison in November 2025.
He said his recent time off drugs was the longest he had been clean since he was 13 and he was already linking in with a key worker once a week. He hoped to stay off drugs for good.
Judge Munro told the man he was an "absolute menace" when he was on drugs and given his previous offending he was now "in big trouble" and it was "grim".
The court heard his release date for his current sentence is November 2027.
Mr Geraghty said the maximum sentence for child cruelty is seven years.
The judge adjourned finalisation of sentencing for the latest offences to 18 November next and ordered the preparation of probation and prison governor's reports.
His co-accused, the child's mother, previously pleaded guilty to car theft and ill treating a child.
A probation report has also been ordered for her in advance of sentencing on 18 November next.
Reporting restrictions prevent the publication of any information which would identify the child.
