A 20-year-old woman who abducted a day-old baby from a hospital in Cork city in a carrier bag has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Judge Patrick J. Moran, suspending two years of the sentence, recommended that the defendant be transferred to the Central Mental Hospital.
Susan McGovern, of Dungarvan, Co Waterford, had previously pleaded guilty to abducting John Donal O'Brien from his mother, Bridget, at Erinville Hospital on September 22nd, 2000.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court was told that McGovern had set up an elaborate plan to abduct a baby which included telling people she was pregnant and buying baby clothes.
Sgt John Cahill said the woman had enlisted the help of her 11- and 12-year-old sisters in the abduction.
The girls had gone to the nursery in the hospital and placed the baby in a carrier bag before bringing it to the defendant who was waiting in the car-park.
Mr Tom Creed, defending, said his client had a "Walter Mitty-like quality" which made her confuse facts and incidents in her life.
He said his client needed treatment at the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum.
Judge Moran, recommending that this be done, suspended two years of the five-year sentence on McGovern.