Last week, in one of the worst child abuse cases to come before an Irish court in recent years, three men and two women from Munster were jailed for abusing exploiting and wilfully neglecting five young children.
The children’s father and mother, two of their uncles and an aunt were found guilty of all but one of the 78 charges against them, which included the sexual assault, rape and sexual exploitation of the three eldest children in Munster between August 2014 and April 2016.
The parents were also found guilty of wilfully neglecting their five children who were aged between one and nine at the time of the abuse.
The judge in the case, Mr Justice Paul McDermott, called their crimes “the most profound breach of trust a human being can commit against their children”.
After the guilty verdicts were handed down, one of the foster parents currently looking after the children said they could “finally feel safe now”.
Today we hear the story of the Munster child abuse case from the reporter who covered it, Isabel Hayes, and ask therapeutic social worker Tara Keogh about what the future may hold for these children who were abused and neglected for so long.
In the News is presented by reporters Sorcha Pollak and Conor Pope.
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