A couple who abducted their young daughter, prompting a nationwide Child Safety Alert, were “heavily involved in substance abuse” at the time, a court has heard.
The 33-year-old father previously pleaded guilty to intentionally taking his two-year-old daughter from a health centre in County Mayo on October 12 last year. He cannot be named in order to protect his daughter’s identity.
At a hearing today, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the man is facing trial in Mayo next year on separate charges including assault, burglary and criminal damage. Judge Martin Nolan adjourned passing sentence on the abduction until next March, pending the outcome of the Mayo trial.
