A woman whose two-year-old daughter died six years ago after ingesting methadone has been acquitted of wilfully neglecting the child.
Heidi Douglas died in April 2016 three days after being admitted to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin. A postmortem concluded that she suffered acute brain inflammation which was “most likely” caused by having ingested methadone.
Sadie Douglas (39), of Rathsallagh Drive, Shankill, Co Dublin, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to wilful neglect of her child leading to her death on dates between April 13th and 14th, 2016. The jury took just over an hour to reach a verdict.
Judge Orla Crowe confirmed that there was nothing else pending against Ms Douglas before she discharged her from the indictment and told her she was free to go. Ms Douglas’ partner, Christopher O’Reilly, of the same address, pleaded guilty last July to the same charge and was sentenced to 3½ years in prison.
The trial heard that O’Reilly was a recovering heroin addict and was taking daily doses of methadone, a heroin substitute, obtained on weekly prescription from a local chemist. A cup with traces of methadone in it was found in the house on the day in question.
The couple’s older daughter, four-year-old Sophie, died tragically in February 2016 from a brain haemorrhage arising out of a birth condition called arteriovenous malformation (AVM).
The night before Heidi’s death, her parents stayed up late looking at photographs of Sophie, the court heard. Ms Douglas said Heidi slept in until 10.30am before going downstairs with her six-year-old brother. Her brother got her chocolate spread and breadsticks, and the children were “up and down the stairs” and watching TV.
Unresponsive
Ms Douglas told gardaí that Heidi was “grand, a bit wheezy” and went to sleep in her cot before she was found unresponsive and not breathing. The family called emergency services and paramedics noticed that Heidi’s pupils were pinpoint-size, which is a signs of an overdose, and administered Naloxone, an antidote to methadone.
The child was intubated and ventilated but began to have seizures and toxicology reports tested positive for methadone.
Ms Douglas told paramedics she did not understand how Heidi could have got her hands on the methadone, as her partner normally “drained” the last bit of his weekly prescription on Wednesday before going to the chemist on Thursday to collect more.
Conor Devally SC, defending, told the jury that in his view there was something merciless in the act of prosecuting Ms Douglas for neglect.
He said his client voluntarily told paramedics in the ambulance that her partner was on methadone. He said that when Ms Douglas said there was not any methadone in the house that morning, she was saying this because O’Reilly finished it every Wednesday.
The jury heard that the postmortem examination found Heidi was a healthy and well-nourished child, with good dental hygiene.
“This is not a neglected child,” Mr Devally said, adding that the prosecution did not say this was a pattern of ongoing behaviour.
He said Ms Douglas was unaware of the presence of the methadone cup in the bedroom and as a result she did not expose her child to that cup. O’Reilly did know about the cup and he has “fallen on his sword” as a result, because he knows he did something wrong, Mr Devally said.