Santina Cawley..RIP

[Sailorsgirl44]

I can't stop thinking about this case in Cork. This 2 year old child was out until 3am..surrounded by drunk, aggressive people. She was murdered by Karen Harrington but her father should be hanging his head in shame.. I saw an article yesterday with the father posing by her grave which was covered in flowers. He was saying how much he loved her.. So much 'easier' to love someone when they're dead - he certainly showed no 'love' to her on the night of her murder.

I wonder will the father ever look in the mirror and see his role in her death? And it makes me incredibly sad to think there are other children like this out there...children whose parents prioritise drinking over their child's wellbeing.

I agree with you 100%. She just seemed to have such a chaotic home life.

I couldn't read all the details- they left me cold.

Have a little girl similar age and this case will haunt me.

RIP little angel x

It's just appalling and heartbreaking. I just can't get my head around how anyone could do that to a little child. I agree the father should be ashamed of himself.

RIP Santina x

RIP 🙏 Santina . Poor darling.

I couldn't read more than the initial newspaper reports. Utterly heartbreaking.
I agree re the father.

It shocking. What an appalling way for that lovely little baby to die. However, in my sheltered, ordered, middle class way, I'm astonished by the details of the day in question. Was this normal life for this poor little child, being dragged from pillar to post by adults who were drinking and taking drugs, fighting and shouting, kept out till all hours and then just left with someone by her father on a wild goose chase? Was that what she knew?

I do feel sorry for him - the eventual death of his daughter is a terrible consequence but he's in the papers now talking about it? Where's the remorse? The shame?

That poor baby, my heart breaks for her 💔
I don't think anyone will ever know what happened that night, not even Karen Harrington.
Is it likely that the other Cawley children will not be dragged hither and thither to pubs and parties til 3 in the morning? Hopefully they won't.

The family background to the wider Cawley family is chaotic & troubling. (Santina moved to her dad's care from her mum Bridget after she suffered a broken bone). At the time the dad had two of the boys living with him, who returned to their mum, perplexingly.

It is tragic.

It is horrendous what poor little Santina endured on the night of her murder, I read the media coverage during the trial, and cried.

I am never that comfortable with threads like this tho, castigating the wider family & using pejorative language.

That little girl had her femur broken in her mums care and the boys were returned to the mother

It's an appalling case but the person responsible is the one who murdered her. We can all sit in judgement on what is clearly not good parenting but I don't think her father could ever have expected that she was unsafe in the home of his girlfriend. There was no evidence of previous violence or abuse by Karen Harrington.
I do have sympathy for her parents, they clearly loved her, whatever their failings might be.

I agree TheVeryThing.

I can't agree or endorse the parenting decisions taken by both her parents but it couldn't have been anticipated that Karen Harrington would murder her.

She absolutely refused to plead diminished responsibility etc, insisted on pleading not guilty hence the verdict.

Previous to that she was known as someone who was good with children & had brought her younger siblings up.

What a disgusting thread.

Imagine coming onto a parenting site to blame a bereaved father for the death of his daughter and saying he didn't love her.

Does it make you feel good to kick someone going through the worst thing imaginable. You're sick and twisted to derive any pleasure from blatently using the brutal murder of a child to feel ake yourself feel superior.

I hope MNHQ take this thread down.

Has the question as to why she was found naked under a duvet ever been answered? I knew people like this in my home town children with chaotic lives dragged from party to party , house to house, drinking and drug taking going on and no one ever blinked an eye horrifying. The little girl was let down time and time again by all the adults in her life, we can only hope that her siblings will be safe . God rest her little soul

She was let down by her whole family. The story of that night is horrifying. Seems she was no-one’s priority.