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BERNADETTE SCULLY USED her post-verdict statement to highlight the absence of services for people with disabilities and to urge those in danger of self harming to reach out for help.
Her solicitor, Patricia Cronin, read her statement to the media outside the Central Criminal Court, after she was cleared of the manslaughter of her profoundly disabled daughter by giving her too much sedative.
The Offaly GP was charged with unlawfully killing 11-year-old Emily Barut at their home at Emvale, Bachelor’s Walk, Tullamore.
It was alleged that she killed her by an act of gross negligence involving the administration of an excessive quantity of chloral hydrate on Saturday 15 September, 2012. She pleaded not guilty.
“As I said in my evidence, Emily was my little bird with a broken wing, whom I loved, cared for and protected,” she wrote.
“Our struggle is mirrored in the lives of so many people in similar situations in Ireland. Like me, very many parents and carers of children, who are disabled, struggle on a daily basis to get access to services and support systems, which very often are simply not there.”
The 58-year-old said that she had been in a very dark place four years ago, feeling she had no reason to live after Emily had passed away. She said that, with the help of family and friends together with professional support, she found the strength to go on.
“To anyone with mental health difficulties, or who has gone to that dark place of considering self-harm, I would plead with you to reach out to even one person and say how you feel and get the help you need,” she urged.
She said she respected the need to investigate her daughter’s death but described the past four years as hell for her and her family.
Not only had she lost her ‘beloved Emily’, she said, but she had been unable to attend her funeral. She said she hadn’t had the opportunity to grieve properly or to celebrate Emily’s life, which she described as precious.
“These proceedings have left me traumatised and emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted,” she said.
She thanked her partner, his daughter, her own mother and siblings, along with the judge, jury, court officials, gardai and her legal team, including barristers Kenneth Fogarty and Gerard Groarke.
She also thanked the paramedics and medical staff, who had treated her and Emily following her death.
She said she had been humbled by the kindness shown by her family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, the people of Tullamore and Edenderry, as well as by complete strangers, who had sent messages, cards, flowers and Mass bouquets and letters.
“Your positive energy has helped me and my family enormously in surviving the past four years and, in particular, during the course of the trial,” she said.
She then asked that her privacy and that of her family be respected, before leaving the Criminal Courts of Justice for the final time.
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What a terribly sad story. A poor reflection on the services available to those in so much need. I for one have nothing but remorse and empathy in my heart in regards to this most difficult of cases and I feel justice has been done. I wish all involved all the very best as you try to rebuild your lives.
This case should never been brought before the courts.
@Martin Sinnott: If the case had not been brought before the courts, Dr. Scully would have been under a cloud and the focus of malicious innuendo and conspiracy theories for the rest of her life. As some of the mean-spirited comments in this thread amply demonstrate, there are more than enough people quite willing – indeed eager – to believe the worst about everyone and everything.
Now she has been cleared of all wrongdoing and hopefully can get on with rebuilding her life as well as she can after her terrible ordeal. I’m sure that everyone with any sense of fair play and decency will wish her well in that.
David Quinn .. very well said .. there would have always been a doubt .. had she not have been charged . The correct verdict was given and it always highlighted the pressure parents are under looking after a child with serious conditions …
The govt doesn’t care or understand how difficult it is to care for someone with special needs 24/7 for years and years.. I cannot imagine the stress and loneliness this mother felt..
@Suzie Sunshine: Although this is not pertinent to the central point, the alias of the poster to whom you are replying is ‘David Quim’, rather than ‘David Quinn’. A quim is not the same as a Quinn (although some quinns may be in possession of a quim if said person identifies as being among the female of the species … ). Apologies for any perception of pedantry but I thought this was a malapropism too laden with comedic potential to ignore.
@David Quim: first time i agree with you
Elliott Silverman. . Fair enough but on my part I just spelt the surname wrong .. .nothing more .. norhing less ..
‘One should never judge anyone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes’. Credit to the court decision in this tragic case.
Honestly, I don’t know how parents and carers do what they do every day, day in, day out all year round, with mediocre support. I could not. True humanitarians, every one of you. I hope you get some respite over the next days and the coming year. Best Wishes, Andi
Wonderful news.
This case Should never have been brought before the courts,
Don’t be so bloody silly, if she had given such a high dose to a patient I wonder what the verdict would be
Peter. This is no story for point scoring. Please have some respect and consideration for the extended family friends and community. A real man would stand up and say “I regret my previous statement and extend my best wishes to the family”
Peter, but but but but she’s a well spoken professional woman. How could she be guilty? Now I wonder if she was Nigerian?
Reality check for you, no points involved. How’s that for point scoring
Peter you are shameless and lack compassion. I have nothing else to say to you.
I suffer from a disease called cerebella ataxia, I’d like to think even though I’m a burden I won’t be over dosed by any one but thanks for not talking anymore you judgemental pri.k
I’ll see your utter lack of compassion and raise you this: you’re not so ill you can’t read and type, are you? Experts said that this was the most severe case of disability they’d ever seen. And you dare play the pity card? Hope you like a taste of your own medicine, tosser.
I didn’t judge you. I pointed out that your comment was misplaced and lacking compassion. I wish you too the very best in your struggle to overcome or live with your condition. I hereby retract my comment about point scoring and apologise for any hurt I have occasioned by that point.
@Peter: “I suffer from a disease called cerebella ataxia —”
I have to admit I’ve never heard of that disease before. How does it affect you, apart from making you so unkind to a woman who has had to endure a great deal of suffering?
You did judge, I asked a question. What would the verdict have been if it was a patient as opposed to a daughter
@Peter: Is this Court Case a Beginning of the Euthanasia Brigade ,in their Quest to Select Blue eyed Blondes.My Sympathy to this Poor Woman and her Family ,and I wish them Peace and love.
Maybe if you’ve never heard of it or how it affects people you shouldn’t ask stupid fu.king questions
If it had been patient, she wouldn’t have been looking after them exclusively for 11 years 24/7 as well as holding down a full time job. You are misplacing you annoyance with the world here Peter.
Haha no annoyance what so ever, she wasn’t holding down a full time job. She only went back to work a week before her daughter lost her life
I don’t care if it was deliberate or not, I don’t know anyone – certainly not an Irish judge – who could sit in judgement and point the finger of blame at this woman. I do happen to believe it was an honest mistake, but that’s of no importance. God bless her.
The care of children born disabled surely presents a huge opportunity for Catholics who oppose abortion to put their money, time and organizational skills where their mouths are and provide the support that the state doesn’t. That would be both fulfilling their Christian duty of charity as well as being probably far more effective in reducing abortion rates than anything they currently do.
The church is one of the most asset-rich institutions in the world. For those who believe in it, surely Jesus would have sold off a few cathedrals and half empty churches, downsized to more suitable accommodation and funded some respite care facilities with the proceeds.
@Marlowemallow: I probably shouldn’t have even mentioned the abortion debate here in hindsight. I think it is genuinely relevant but there’s a time and a place and I’m impressed that no one took the opportunity to turn it into the usual bitter toing and froing.
I agree it should never being brought before court but I do recognise that a person gave another person to much of a certain substance which resulted in their death. Difficult case for the dpp.
Damned if you do and damned if you dont. If nothing else the court has proven the mothers innocence and highlighted shortcomings in our legal system and disability care system. Thank God justice has been done and seen to be done.
Pat Molloy, the evidence was that the overdose was not the only possible cause of death. Emily could have died because of the fit she experiencd that day.
Yet again the state throws the full rigours of the law at those of us who care of our wonderful but disabled and incapacitated children.
Thankfully my fellow citizens have listened well and used their humanity well in making the correct decision. It’s a pity our HSE don’t give as much assistance and support families before things get so difficult.
Many HSE employees just let the files pile up on their desks and go home without a ounce of compassion for the facts presented and the urgency of help and support required to come to the aid of those struggling to respond to our children’s complex needs. Many parents like our family go bed hoping our requests will be answered to help us and with eyes open we wait !! and we wait !! and we wait!! and we wait!!! and then we get up and respond with love care and compassion too our incapacitated children making sure they are as happy,safe and cherished as we can give with our own weaknesses,frailty and inabilities to cope at times. Tonight I thank my fellow citizens for their considered judgment. Bernadette I know it will take time for you to sleep easy in the knowledge you did your very best in those unseen moments when you held your child when no one else was listening or their for you. Tonight and into the future be supported in the knowledge your peers have judged that you did your best and your actions were born out of love for your child.
@tim brendan. That’s so nicely put. I’ve felt so sorry for that poor lady all through this case. Easy for people to judge when they have no idea what it is to care for someone so profoundly disabled with precious little help from anyone. The state didn’t care about Emily when she was alive and suddenly when she’s dead the state is all about her.
I would have done the same to be honest :-/
I wonder would a working class woman receive such compassion and understanding?
THANK F–K SHE WASN’T MY DOCTOR .Now everyone else is at fault but not the Doctor
@ owen74…At fault for what exactly. I’d like to hear your explanation on your comment.
@sparky This case was about a doctor and mother giving her daughter an a fatal overdose of drugs .now it’s a case of no services for people with disabilities .yes it’s terrible that the services for people with disabilities .I have seen at first hand and worked with people with disabilities .But SHE gave her CHILD a fatal overdose .HENCE my comment, if she couldn’t cope she could have got help ,she of all people would have known where to go .
@owen74..Firstly it was about a Mother,who was a Doctor, who watched “Emily” her daughter who was profoundly disabled.She had seen her daughter in constant pain and crying suffering from constant fits in the last 6 days of her little life.The jury after listening to the evidence “judged” that she could have died from a fit . compassion has to be shown and a big part of me hopes it was a fatal overdose that helped little Emily on her way..Nobody should be forced to a life like that.Rip little Emily.
@sparky So you hope it was to send Emily to to a peaceful end just goes to show percicily what I said in the first place SHE AND NOT ANYONE ELSE GAVE THAT POOR POOR CHILD A FATAL OVERDOSE. So would it be OK to go to John of God’s and administer a fatal overdose to any of the poor children or young people who suffer from severe Disabilities and then say at its for the best they were suffering
@Owen74..If it was a fatal overdose that ended “Emilys “life it was her Mother who watched over her. Such decisions should be for Family only when they see their loved one suffer such horrific pain..Your lack of trying to understand such pain and emotions beggers belief..
She tried to get help, but no joy, you have no idea what your talking about. Working with people with disability didn’t even come close to knowing what is like to be the parents of a severely or profoundly disabled child or adult. She was found not guilty
Heart wrenching, God help her, I hope the Authorities that sent her to Trial can live with themselves, Shame on them! Would somebody tell them our streets are walking with Thugs that need to be behind Bars!
This should have never gone to court.
Why did this even get to court
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