'I was the worst mother in the world. And I don't deserve to get them back'
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'The house was constantly untidy, the children were often blue with cold and their hair crawling with large lice'
Mammy didn't take care of us right.
Even in a small child's words, it resonated as the most chilling understatement.
This, after all, was the House of Horrors, presided over by the woman who yesterday admitted she was the "worst mother in the world".
A stunned courthouse heard the horrific story of a desperate struggle by six uncared-for children to survive the most appalling neglect and vile sexual abuse.
Yesterday, their mother hung her head in court as an appalling litany of her inaction, neglect and sexual avarice was recalled.
Just barely 40, the woman looked at least 10 years older as she relived her children's nightmare existence at the family home in Co Roscommon.
She described herself as the worst mother in the world after admitting she had forced her 13-year-old son to repeatedly have sex with her. She committed incest with the young boy at the family home on a number of occasions in 2004.
The woman has also admitted six charges of neglecting and wilfully ill-treating all of her six children between 1998 and 2004 at the family's three-bedroom bungalow.
Shocking
Shocking details of the family's home life were outlined to Judge Miriam Reynolds at yesterday's sentencing hearing at Roscommon Circuit Court.
Further evidence in the case is expected to be heard today before Judge Reynolds passes sentence.
From the time they were born until they were placed in foster care in 2004, the children were subjected to appalling neglect and a range of disturbing abuse, the court heard.
They had little food and were constantly hungry, only got dinner twice a week, were always dirty and unwashed and were regularly left at home alone.
The family home, described as 'a house of horrors ... with bells on', was constantly untidy, rotting bits of food lay discarded in kitchen presses, the children were often blue with the cold and their hair was crawling with large lice.
Mice ran freely around every room in the house and crawled across their bedclothes at night, while rats roamed around the back. On one occasion, five dead rats were deposited by the family cat at the back door.
Sergeant John Hynes told Judge Reynolds that a garda investigation began in 2005 after the eldest child made certain disclosures to Health Board staff.
In a statement taken in June 2005, the boy described his home as a kip. It was always untidy with rubbish thrown everywhere. The house was always cold and the walls were damp. The range was only lit once a month and the children were left alone at night while their mother went to the pub.
He and his brother were left to care for the younger children and their mother would come home at 3am-4am, very drunk and arguing.
His younger sister told a similar story in her statement. Any food she got to eat was cold and when her mother was drunk the house was 'scary'. She was bullied at school and other children called her smelly.
She had 'nits' in her hair which were crawling down her face. She and her sister were not allowed to tie up their hair, because the lice would be too obvious. Her mother never washed their clothes.
The court heard that sometimes the mother either packed their dirty clothes away in a plastic bag or burnt them. She then bought other ill-fitting clothes from a Traveller who called to the house.
Her older sister recalled other children at school refusing to play with her because she was 'smelly'.
The child added in her statement 'Mammy didn't take care of us right'.
When arrested by gardai in 2006, the woman admitted her children had been blue with the cold and dirty. She also admitted that, sometimes, the children were left with no underwear.
Referring to the state of her home, she told gardai in an interview: "It was unbelievably dirty . . . I knew it was my fault. I was too lazy." Later she added: "Yes, I believe they were treated cruelly by me."
In March 2003, Sgt Hynes said he again met the second eldest boy, who told him his mother had made him have sex with her on four occasions. She had come home from the pub drunk and called him into her bed. She took off her nightdress and told him to remove his pyjamas before engaging him in penetrative sex.
Crying
"I was crying. She was my mother. Why did she do that to me?" he asked in his statement.
This happened on three other occasions, the boy said. One time, she came to the sitting room and lay on the couch before getting him to have sex with her.
After the children were taken into care in 2004, his mother threatened him, during a supervised visit, that if he told of what happened, she would bring him into the bathroom and have sex with him, the court heard.
When the sex episodes were put to the mother in a subsequent garda interview, she admitted what had happened. "Yes, I knew how serious it was," she said.
When Sgt Hynes put it to her that, given all that had happened, her house was a House of Horrors, the woman replied: "Yes, it was a House of Horrors with bells on".
She added: "I can safely say that I was the worst mother in the world and I'd turn back the clock if I could, but I can't. I don't deserve to get them (the children) back".
Sergeant Hynes told the court: "I don't think we'll ever get the full truth here. I don't think the children can deal with it. I want to be fair here. I'm a father myself, but I don't think any mother could do what she did."
Victim impact reports on the children declared them all with serious and continuing emotional, developmental and social problems. They are all with foster families.
The hearing continues today.
- Brian McDonald
