'Spare the rod, spoil the child': secretly recorded parents jailed for 'relentless' physical and emotional abuse of six children

A man in his fifties and a woman in her forties have been sentenced to a combined eight and a half years imprisonment at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court following their conviction for the systematic abuse of six children over several years. The man received six years and three months, with nine months suspended, while the woman was sentenced to three years and nine months, also with nine months suspended. Judge Sinéad McMullan described the abuse as "relentless and degrading," inflicting "immeasurable" trauma on the victims. The case came to light when two eldest children walked into a garda station to report ongoing physical and emotional mistreatment. Secret audio recordings made by a teenager documented the parents hitting the children almost daily and using demeaning language. The man pleaded guilty to four counts of child cruelty, the woman to two counts, out of thirteen offences committed between January 2018 and October 2021. All six children were taken into state care. The judge commended the children for their courage in reporting the abuse.