A man who abandoned his young daughter at the side of a busy road to get revenge after the child’s mother went on a night out has been jailed for three years.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, took pictures of the two-year-old and sent them to her mother before driving off just before 5am in August 2020. The child was found crying, cold and in a terrified state by two passersby a short time later.
Judge John Aylmer placed the incident at the higher end of the scale for such offences, saying the child had been “exposed to significant risk of death or injury”. He added that the man put the child in danger in a “fairly pre-meditated fashion”.
The accused, who is in his 20s, appeared at Letterkenny District Court in Co Donegal where he pleaded guilty to a charge of child cruelty.
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Details of the incident were outlined in court by Garda Sgt Frank McDaid, who said two men returning from a night-out in Letterkenny thought they had heard a child crying. They then found the girl in socks with no shoes holding a baby’s bottle at the entrance to a construction site.
The men began banging on the doors of local houses thinking that the child had accidentally walked out of one of them. However, none of those who answered recognised the little girl and gardaí were contacted.
A woman later telephoned the garda station explaining that the lost child was her daughter who had been in the care of her father earlier the night.
The court heard that the accused had become jealous that his ex-partner had been out socialising and phoned the woman on at least 30 occasions during which he threatened to abandon the child. At 4.30am the man told his ex-partner that he would leave the child if she did not tell him where she was.
CCTV footage showing the man driving off after leaving the toddler alone was recovered during the investigation.
The accused was arrested by gardaí and told them “Aye, I was expecting this silly thing”. He admitted getting the child out of her bed and leaving her in Letterkenny, saying his temper got the better of him.
A victim impact statement on behalf of the child’s mother said the child still struggles to be around other people and will only stay with her and her parents. The court was also told that the young man has not seen his daughter since the incident.
Fiona Crawford, barrister for the accused, said her client was rightfully ashamed of what he had done and was very remorseful. She said he admitted he had used the child as a pawn in a jealous relationship and there was no excuse for it.
Passing sentence on Tuesday, May 9th, Judge Aylmer said the offence merited a sentence of five years. He said the fact the child was only left alone for two minutes and it was “fortuitous” that the men had heard her as they returned from a party.
However, he said that because the accused had entered an early plea and co-operated with the investigation, he reduced the sentence to four years imprisonment with the final 12 months suspended.