Jail for man who abducted daughter, prompting nationwide alert

A 33-year-old man from County Mayo has been sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment following his abduction of his two-year-old daughter from a health centre in October 2021, an incident that triggered a nationwide Child Safety Alert. Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the man, who cannot be named to protect his daughter's identity, collected the child during a scheduled supervised visit and departed in a car driven by the child's mother at dangerous speed. Gardaí located them at a hotel in Dublin 8 after tracing his phone. The man also pleaded guilty to assaulting two of his nieces and attacking gardaí during a second abduction attempt at his sister's County Mayo home in December 2021, when he forced entry and caused damage to property. Judge Martin Nolan noted the man's expressed remorse and acknowledged substance abuse difficulties, but stated the second offences had substantially aggravated his case. The child's mother, a UK national, pleaded guilty to abduction but failed to appear for sentencing and is now resident in London.