[ad_1]
A woman accused of murdering her young children can no longer be identified, the Central Criminal Court said this morning, in one of the first such sentences.
The woman, who has been previously named by the media, will now be anonymized following a ruling by the Court of Appeal last week.
The mother is expected to plead not guilty on grounds of insanity when she goes to trial next year for the alleged murders at one address earlier this year.
The defense attorney for the woman, Mr. Michael Bowman SC, filed the request to protect the identity of his client.
This morning, Judge Michael White ruled that the mother can no longer be named or identified because the case involves an alleged crime against her children. As deceased children must not be identified, the woman cannot be named, as doing so would identify them.
The Court of Appeal ruled last Thursday that the 2001 Juvenile Law, which prevents the identification of a child when charged with a crime, does not exclude a deceased child.
Judge George Birmingham, who ruled in the Court of Appeal, said that the language in Section 252 of the Act is “clear and unambiguous” and that if it were changed it would be a decision of the Oireachtas.
Today’s case, which was postponed to a date next year to allow for the preparation of psychiatric reports, is expected to take three days in front of a jury.
[ad_2]