A bench warrant has been issued for a woman who failed to turn up at Galway District Court today for sentencing after she pleaded guilty to abandoning her four-year-old son in a Supermacs restaurant.
Olivia O'Connor (39), Fana Glas, Hillside, Galway, was captured on security video cameras leaving the busy premises at Eyre Square, Galway, on February 3rd last after she let her son walk upstairs to Funworld, a designated children's play area.
She pleaded guilty at the time to abandoning the child, contrary to section 246 (1) and (2) of the Childcare Act, 2001.
Evidence was heard at the court in September that video footage captured O'Connor walking halfway up the stairs with the child but when he ran ahead to the play area, she turned and walked out the door.
O'Connor told the court she thought her baby-sitter, who happened to be her daughter, was upstairs in Funworld at the time and there had been a misunderstanding.
She said she only discovered the boy was missing when she returned home and he was not with her daughter.