THE TRIAL OF a woman, charged with the manslaughter of her profoundly disabled daughter, has been told that her care of the child was so good that it was the subject of conversation in their local pharmacy.
Their pharmacist gave evidence of ‘superb’ care, on the fourth day of the trial of 58-year-old Offaly GP Bernadette Scully.
Scully is charged with unlawfully killing 11-year-old Emily Barut at their home at Emvale, Bachelor’s Walk, Tullamore.
It’s 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 has pleaded not guilty and is on trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Pharmacist Paddy Carragher of Quirke’s Medical Hall in Tullamore testified that his pharmacy was where Emily got most of her medication.
He said that a bottle of chloral hydrate had been dispensed to her on 27 July, 2010 and another on 13 August of that year.
The dosage was ‘5 ml when required at night’ and he would have expected a bottle to last 40 nights at that dosage.
Under cross-examination by Kenneth Fogarty SC, defending, he said that such was the volume of Emily’s medicine that Scully’s partner used to collect it in a van.
He said he knew the defendant, who had worked 100 yards down the street from the pharmacy. He was asked about her care of Emily.
“I’m lucky that I don’t have a disabled child,” he said.
I have three children. Having a disabled child must be horrific. I think the care there was nothing short of superb.
He said that Scully was ‘so caring in such a difficult situation’.
“I’d say it was phenomenal care,” he said.
“In our pharmacy, it was the subject of conversation, how good Bernie was in looking after her for 11 to 12 years, of a very disabled child.”
Evidence
The jury yesterday heard the 999 call made by her partner on finding the child cold in her bed and her mother unconscious.
The jury also heard a call made to the poison information centre by a person identifying herself as the accused, looking for the lethal dose of a medication for an adult female. T
The jurors had already seen a note found at the scene, in which the author wrote of being unable to let the child’s suffering continue.
The trial is continuing this afternoon before Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of seven women and five men.
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