Dad’s New GF Savagely Beats Baby When Refused a Cigarette

Santina Cawley was born on May 6, 2017, in Cork, Ireland, to parents Michael Cawley and Bridget O’Donoghue, who had been married since 2006. Santina was the youngest of five siblings; her eldest sibling was a sister, and there were three boys between them. Before Santina was born, the couple had suffered a miscarriage, so when their sweet girl came along, the whole family was delighted and enthralled with the tiny baby. Santina was born premature but was soon home with her family. Unfortunately, Michael and Bridget separated when Santina was about 10 months old in March of 2018.

Initially, when the couple separated, Michael moved out with two of the boys, and Bridget kept the other three children. Michael and his sons lived in the Leeside apartments on Grattan Street in the city center. Cork City Center is an island between two branches of the River Lee that goes through the middle of the city. In December of 2018, Michael started seeing a new woman named Karen Harrington. The two entered a romantic relationship but continued to maintain their separate residences. As the relationship progressed, Michael was known to regularly spend the night at her apartment.

A Concerning Incident

In the spring of 2019, just before Santina’s birthday, an accident occurred on her mother’s watch. Santina was playing at her grandmother’s house chasing her brother when she slipped and fell down three stairs. This fall resulted in a broken femur. Now, if you’ve listened to more than a few of our episodes, you’ll know that a broken femur is often a big red flag for social services. Though there are instances where kids just have a freak accident that breaks their femur, more often than not, it is the sign of violence or the result of a car accident or a major fall.

Due to the nature of her injury, the Irish version of CPS opened a case on Santina’s behalf. The organization, known as Tusla, made the choice to remove Santina from Bridget’s custody and place her with her father. Michael and Bridget’s two sons, who had been living with Michael, went back to live with their mother. This meant Michael was solely in charge of Santina, and Bridget had the four other children.

As spring turned to summer, Michael continued to spend time with Karen and often brought Santina along. By all accounts, Santina and Karen had a good relationship, and Karen was well known for being great with children. By the age of 15, Karen had effectively become the parent in her household when her mother became ill. She raised her three younger siblings at their family home on Ravensdale Road in Mahon. Karen was 38 years old at the time of our story, and everyone in her life agreed that she was wonderful with children. In fact, she was the go-to person to watch the kids of many of her friends. In some cases, Karen was the only person that some friends would trust with their children.

July 4, 2019

On July 4, 2019, Michael and Santina picked up Karen and brought her into Cork City Center. She spent some time in a casino, visited a friend’s, and also visited her grandmother that day. At some point in the afternoon, Michael and Karen reconnected at their friend Martina’s house. Martina lived very close to Karen, and it was an easy walking distance between the two apartment complexes. While Michael and Karen were hanging out with friends, they were partaking in a fair amount of adult beverages, and some sources say they were smoking weed as well.

In the evening, Michael heard from a cousin from Limerick who was visiting Cork. Michael wanted to have his cousin come visit and also wanted him to stay at Karen’s apartment. Karen and he had already decided that Michael would be staying with Karen that night. They had both been drinking, so it wasn’t safe for him to drive home, and his apartment was too far to walk to.

Karen was not happy about this change of plans, as she didn’t want the cousin to stay at her place. This seemed to send Michael into a complete rage. Michael would later say he did not remember calling Karen any names; however, many witnesses with them at Martina’s house told nearly identical stories of what he said that night. He allegedly called her a derogatory name and a prostitute. He also used some racist terms, accusing her of fraternizing with Pakistani men in the casino, and he couldn’t believe she was unwilling to accommodate his cousin.

Karen decided to end the argument by leaving Martina’s house party. As she went to leave, Michael asked her to take Santina with her. Karen refused, saying that it was his baby, and she left. CCTV footage shows her arriving back at her apartment at 26 Elderwood Park in Cork at 1:36 a.m.

The Fateful Hours

Several hours later, around 3:00 a.m. on July 5th, Michael finally left Martina’s apartment to return to Karen’s place. On the walk back, he alternated between carrying the sleeping Santina in his arms and pushing her in a stroller. He arrived at Karen’s home at 3:06 a.m. and left just 4 minutes later at 3:10.

During the brief 4-minute exchange, neighbors heard yelling between the couple. It seems that Michael’s plan had been to transfer the sleeping toddler to a blanket on the floor. The description from our sources makes it sound like the blanket had been folded into a makeshift sleeping mat. It would appear that the yelling match woke Santina up. Now, instead of staying to soothe his daughter back to sleep, Michael left Santina with Karen and headed out on foot to try to find his cousin.

For the next two hours, Michael was walking all over town in search of his cousin. He was not successful in locating him, so he returned back to Karen’s apartment. Michael arrived back at her complex at 5:07 a.m. but was stopped before he entered her door by a neighbor. The neighbor said that Karen had gone mad. He told Michael he’d heard screaming and roaring inside the apartment. Michael seemed unconcerned as he went inside, but just 47 seconds later, he was back out on the balcony yelling that his baby was dead.

The Discovery

Ireland’s most prominent law enforcement and security agency is called the Garda Síochána. This is a primarily unarmed force that is involved in crime detection, drug enforcement, traffic enforcement, and more. The name means “Guardians of the Peace.” They are most commonly referred to as the Garda or the gardaí. Michael came out of his apartment screaming for his baby. After just one minute, the neighbor who had warned him about Karen’s behavior immediately called the Garda.

When Michael had entered Karen’s apartment, he had been met with a confusing sight. The space was disheveled and looked as though there had been a struggle. There were overturned chairs, broken glass on the floor in the kitchen, and smears of blood on the floor, including bloody footprints and what appeared to be drag marks. His daughter was also not laying on top of the folded blanket as he expected. Instead, she was under the blanket with her face covered. Karen was laying on the couch, not speaking or reacting to the alarming state of the apartment around her.

A Mother’s Heartbreak

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Santina had been hooked up to life support, but it was immediately apparent that her injuries were catastrophic. She was literally bruised from head to toe. Her head was soft where the bones of her skull had been broken.

Around 7:00 a.m., Bridget heard knocking on her door. She opened it to find the gardaí standing in front of her. They asked her if she was Santina’s mother, and she was instantly filled with dread. Bridget asked them what was wrong, but all they could say was that Santina was hurt and that she needed to come to the hospital. She pushed them for more information, but they refused to tell her until she arrived at the hospital. The gardaí called for a taxi for Bridget, and as she was leaving, her 10-year-old son sprinted out of the house and climbed into the taxi with her.

When Bridget walked into the hospital, she was greeted by a team of five or six doctors who took her to a private room. There, she was told that her daughter was dead. She tried to get answers to understand what had happened to her baby girl, but they did not have any answers for her. They did ask her if she wanted to hold her daughter, which she said, “Of course.” Heartbroken, Bridget said she’ll never forget holding her baby’s lifeless body the morning she died.

“I have to go into that room, and they said, ‘Do you want to hold her?’ I said, ‘Do I want to what? Of course I want to hold her.’ I held her, and I was trying to bring her back. She was very cold, so I was trying to, you know, warm her up. I didn’t want to believe she was dead, you know. She just didn’t move. Her eyes were open, and I just wanted to take her home.”

Bridget cradled her broken daughter in her arms and pleaded with her to wake up. She held her as she felt the dent in the back of her head where her skull had been broken. She held her as she saw bruises from her scalp all the way down to her toes. She saw the spaces on her head where the hair had been ripped from her scalp. Her son pointed at her mouth, and Bridget saw that her teeth were chipped and knocked backward into her mouth. She held her as the doctors turned off life support, and Santina died in her arms at 9:20 a.m. on July 5th.

The Investigation

It was quickly apparent to Bridget and Michael, as well as the gardaí and medical professionals, that there was no way Santina had simply sustained all these injuries accidentally. Someone had done this to her, and according to Michael, his daughter was fine when he left her at 3:00 a.m. He claimed the only person who was with her for those two hours was Karen.

Authorities began searching for evidence in the apartment immediately. They found blood splattered and smeared throughout the kitchen as though there had been a struggle. The odd thing was that the living room had no trace of blood, with the exception of the blanket that Santina was covered with.

They found two pairs of tiny toddler leggings in the apartment. One pair was pink leopard print and had a diaper still inside it, as though it had been pulled forcibly from her body. The other pair was yellow and had blood stains on it, which were found on the floor in the kitchen. They also found a pair of adult leggings in Karen’s room with five blood stains on them. Tests would later show that four of those stains held Karen’s DNA, and one was from Santina.

They also found tufts of red hair on the couch and floor, which would prove to be from Santina as well. The hair they found still had the roots attached, showing they had been ripped from her head. Santina’s tiny pink sequin tank top was found torn on the floor. They also found one of her earrings on the floor as well; the other was still in her ear.

In the search to find who had done this to Santina, the gardaí’s first job was to try and clear Michael and Karen, as they were the two adults in charge of Santina that night. Both claimed they had no idea what happened to the little girl; however, they needed to figure out if either of them was telling the truth or not. After the initial interviews with both adults, the Garda had two suspects with no confessions. They turned to CCTV footage and cell phone records to try to verify one or both stories.

Michael had claimed that Santina was fine when he left her at 3:00 a.m. with Karen. He then walked around the city for two hours before returning home to find her dead. In addition, Michael immediately turned over the clothes he had been wearing that night to authorities. They found no blood whatsoever on his clothing or any other evidence that would suggest he was present during the violent attack on his daughter.

Karen claimed that Michael left the baby with her, and she immediately fell asleep. She was awoken when Michael returned home at 5:00 a.m., frantic about his daughter’s condition.

Timeline Verification

The gardaí ended up examining over 300 hours of CCTV footage to help determine if Michael’s story was true. This footage showed the very tight timeframe of when he left Martina’s home, arrived at Karen’s apartment, and then immediately set out on foot to search for his cousin. Footage from the city showed him on foot on several occasions, corroborating his story that he was not with Santina from 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

There was also CCTV footage from Karen’s apartment complex, which had enough cameras in the area that both entrances to her apartment were able to be monitored to see if anyone entered her residence or if Karen left. The gardaí also examined the phone records from both Karen and Michael. These two sources showed that Karen could not have been asleep from 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Karen made a few calls to her friends, her sister Michelle, and another resident of the complex called Aoife. In addition, it is clear that no one other than Karen entered or exited the apartment during that time.

Neighbor Testimonies

The gardaí’s next step was to interview other residents of the complex in an effort to find anyone who might know more about what happened in those two hours. Considering that the time in question was in the wee hours of the morning, there was a good possibility that no one had seen or heard anything. However, this was not the case. Many neighbors that night reported hearing a great deal of noise from Karen’s apartment.

One neighbor recalled hearing yelling at 3:00 a.m. when Michael dropped Santina off. They were able to confirm that the voices they heard were from Michael and Karen. She heard Karen yelling, “I’m going to tell them,” and heard the sound of breaking glass. After Michael left, the same neighbor went to check on Karen to make sure she was safe. Karen did not initially answer when she knocked on the door. Instead of giving up, they went to her other door and knocked and kicked the door until Karen answered. While banging on the door, she heard someone inside who sounded very upset; she thought it was Karen. Karen’s first question upon opening the door was to ask if the gardaí were there. She then told her neighbor she was fine, apologized for being loud and causing trouble, and told her that she was going to go to bed. The neighbor described her as being distressed and quieter than usual. She apologized several times in their brief interaction. However, it does not seem that Karen went to sleep at that point.

Dylan, Karen’s immediate next-door neighbor, was kept awake as the noises from Karen’s apartment became alarming. He said he heard a commotion like someone throwing a fit or a tantrum. It sounded like someone was throwing things around in her apartment. He heard her repeatedly opening and slamming her sliding glass door. Dylan shouted at her to stop or he would call the gardaí. Instead, Karen left her apartment and went down into the garden area, still shouting and raging. She shouted at him to call the gardaí. He said he had never seen her like that before and said she was like someone possessed. “I was a bit creeped out by it. She was acting weird; she was acting crazy.”

She then calmly came to his door a few minutes later asking for a cigarette. He turned her away and locked his door. After he turned her away, Karen returned to her apartment, but things got worse from there. Dylan heard a child crying. He was immediately concerned because of Karen’s demeanor. He then began to hear Karen’s voice. He could hear her taunting the child with a loud, sarcastic tone. He heard her mocking the baby, saying, “Oh poor baby, are you all right?” followed quickly with a mean, “Shut up.”

At 4:31 a.m., he was finally so concerned that he called the gardaí. However, by the time they arrived, the noises had stopped. There was no more crying, no more shouting, no breaking glass, or things being thrown around. He described it as “dead silent.” Officers knocked on Karen’s door, but they did not get a response. Dylan did not report the child crying at this point; rather, it seemed he had merely called in a noise complaint. After trying for several minutes, the gardaí left at around 4:56 a.m., telling Dylan to call if things got out of hand again. It was just 10 minutes before Michael arrived home to find his daughter dead.

Interrogations and Arrest

Karen was arrested on Monday, July 8th; however, she was released shortly after on July 9th. In many of Bridget’s interviews in the days following Santina’s death, she lamented that she just wanted her daughter’s murderer to be brought to justice.

“What did you do to my baby? Why? Why? Why? She didn’t give the answer. Why did she kill my baby and what did she do to her? She’s only two, she’s only a baby, like what did she do? Not at all. I’m very angry with that woman. She just sat there inside court just as like nothing happened. She was playing a game, that’s how I see it, and she really upset me. We have our lovely memories, and that’s the best thing we have, but we never get over what happened… She was so gentle. You can’t believe like someone could do that. Whatever the report came back as… the beating she got, that was horrible. You couldn’t do that to a baby. You couldn’t do that to nobody. I don’t know how she managed. She got so much brutal beating, it’s horrifying. And how she just looked there in the courtroom thinking there was nothing happening, and she done it.”

In the weeks following, both Michael and Karen were interviewed several times. Karen was interviewed five separate times by gardaí. On the final occasion, she was asked, “Try closing your eyes. I want you to think back to that night when you were in the apartment that night, and Michael left. Keep your eyes closed for a second. I want you to think back on all the objects that were around you. I want you to think about that location, that time, and your best memory of what went on in as much detail as possible.”

In Karen’s recollection of events, she thought she fell asleep. She had an argument with Michael when he arrived around 3:00 a.m. Santina was crying as Michael left her. Karen thought she was too hot, so she took Santina’s clothes off and laid her on the blanket. Karen said she went back to sleep on the couch. The interrogators challenged this, but Karen insisted that she had fallen asleep. She cried and then vomited as they showed her pictures of the clumps of Santina’s hair on the couch. Karen could not or would not explain what happened to Santina.

In August of 2019, Karen was arrested again and officially charged with Santina’s murder. This was when it hit the news that Karen was also four months pregnant initially. She was remanded in custody for a few weeks; ultimately, she got out on bail and stayed out until her trial in 2022. She gave birth to her son in the last week of October of 2019. He was 9 weeks early and spent several weeks in the specialist premature baby unit at Cork Hospital.

While Bridget was horrified and devastated that the person she believed to be her daughter’s murderer was out on bail, the rest of the community was just confused. Karen had an impeccable reputation with friends and family. Everyone was in shock that the trustworthy caretaker of their children was being accused of something so horrific. Many said that they could not fathom that the woman they knew could have possibly inflicted the injuries described in the media. Though it was well known that Karen had come from a dysfunctional family, she had made a change for her own life. She had frequently worked as a babysitter, and everyone trusted her. Karen’s sister Michelle said that it just wasn’t in Karen’s nature to be mean to a child; she would never hurt or, worse, murder a child. Some noted that she was certainly not a person who put up with crap from anyone, but she had never been publicly violent.

Saying Goodbye to Santina

As Bridget and Michael waited for justice, other matters needed to be handled. Sweet Santina needed to be laid to rest. Neither Bridget nor Michael had much money. With four other children to care for, the cost for a funeral seemed insurmountable. A friend of the family called some of the local news stations in a plea to help the family. As a result, a GoFundMe page was opened by the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s Red FM, which raised €11,425 for Santina’s service. The fundraiser vowed that any excess funds would be distributed between local charities.

Bridget would later go on to appear on the Neil Prendeville Show:

“It’s been a horrific 10 days for you, how are you bearing up?”

“Well, I’m trying to keep strong for my kids, but my heart inside is broken. My world is destroyed.”

Santina was buried in a tiny white casket on July 12th. Her mother picked out a pink dress for her to wear. Now, often at funerals of small children, we hear people say things like they look like sleeping angels as they lay in their casket. When asked if her daughter looked beautiful, Bridget said no. Her daughter was so bruised that she had to wear a long-sleeved, high-neck shirt under her dress. You could see the extensive bruising on her face through the makeup. Bridget also said that her mouth looked all wrong because of the damage done to her teeth. Santina’s family placed some of her favorite things in her casket with her. They buried her with teddy bears, a Barney toy, and Teletubbies.

Santina’s funeral was a ceremony called the Mass of the Angels. Now, this is a traditional Catholic funeral ceremony reserved for the death of a child. Some of Santina’s mourners wore shirts with her picture on them with the words “RIP Angel Santina.” Balloons printed with a photo of her face also decorated the church. Michael stood with his hand on her casket throughout the whole ceremony. When the service ended, her casket was carried out by her parents and siblings. She was buried at St. Catherine’s Cemetery in Kilcully.

After Santina was buried, the family spent time decorating her grave to make it as beautiful as the little girl they’d lost. Her headstone was inscribed with her full name: Santina Eileen Barbie Cawley O’Donoghue.

Autopsy Results

It wasn’t until November that the complete autopsy results were released. Santina suffered a total of 53 injuries. There were 49 external injuries that consisted mostly of extreme bruising. There were four internal injuries, including complex fractures to her skull with a displacement of bone, two fractured ribs, fractures to her right arm, as well as a severe cervical spinal injury. A fracture to her femur was also noted. This femur fracture was clearly healed and appeared to be the femur break that happened several months earlier under her mother’s watch.

The bruises on Santina’s body were on her forehead, earlobe, cheeks, side of her face, lower jaw, arms, hands, feet, and more. Her scalp was so bruised the examiner could not find a single space that was not bruised. The examiner couldn’t even count how many blows to the head Santina had suffered because of the condition of her scalp. Santina’s brain injury was so severe that she would have fallen into a coma immediately.

The Long Road to Trial

Karen remained out on bail for years as her trial was repeatedly postponed due to delays caused by the pandemic. She was granted bail for just €5,000 and was released to stay with her friend. She had twice-daily check-ins with the gardaí and a curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. She was not allowed anywhere near the address of the murder and was not allowed any contact with Santina’s family. She also had to surrender her passport.

As 2021 arrived, Santina’s family was still waiting for justice. On January 26th, Michael saw Karen boarding a bus. This was right around the time that her trial was supposed to start but had been delayed due to the pandemic for a third time. Michael followed her on the bus and attacked her. He threw her to the floor and kicked her a few times, and Karen sustained soft tissue injuries to her chest. His attack was caught on CCTV footage, but it wasn’t needed; he turned himself in shortly after the assault. Michael admitted to losing control and wished he had let the law take its course. He was later sentenced to 10 months in jail. The entire sentence was suspended as long as Michael stayed out of trouble for the next two years.

The Trial

Karen’s final trial began in April of 2022 and was expected to last four to five weeks. Karen maintained a plea of innocence, always claiming that she had no memory of those hours. Through interviews and interrogations that took place before the trial, Karen was repeatedly presented with evidence that there appeared to be no one else in the apartment that night. She even corroborated Michael’s timeline of when he was out of the house and how much time she was in charge of Santina. When asked what this meant, she admitted that it seemed like it must have been her or that all the evidence pointed to her.

Now, one would think that at this point she might accept an insanity plea. It would seem that if she truly didn’t have any memory of what happened, that she might have had some sort of psychotic break or dissociative episode. However, an insanity plea would also mean that she would need to admit that it was her that beat that child to death.

Throughout the trial, Karen was allowed to wear sunglasses and a surgical mask to hide her face. She appeared to have no reaction as weeks of evidence and testimonies were presented. The gardaí had used a force of over 90 officers to follow up on over 450 leads and take 320 witness statements. They left no stone unturned as they sought the truth of what happened to little Santina.

Testimonies were given by neighbors about how much they trusted Karen, and others testified about the ranting and raving that they heard that night. Medical examiners and doctors spoke of the catastrophic and completely devastating injuries that Santina suffered. It was stated that Santina weighed only 10.3 kg at the time of her death, which translates to 22.7 pounds.

Sergeant David Tobin, who was the first to arrive on the scene, testified about what he saw that morning. He said, “When I went into the living room, I saw Santina Cawley. She was lying on a quilt. She looked pale, and she wasn’t breathing. From looking at her, she looked deceased to me at that stage. It looked like she’d been placed on the quilt. She was like a child’s doll. Her eyes were only slightly open.” He said her skin was gray and colorless, her legs were splayed in an unnatural position. She had no pulse. When his head was placed to her chest, he found no heartbeat or signs of breathing. He performed CPR but could only use two fingers for the chest compressions because she was so tiny.

At one point, Karen took to the stand where she again stated that she was innocent. She said, “I did not murder Santina Cawley,” but she didn’t say much else. She was only cross-examined for about 15 minutes out of the 4-week trial and dug her heels in every time the prosecution tried to say that there couldn’t have possibly been anybody else there. She maintained that she must have been unaware of what happened during those hours; therefore, she could not confirm nor deny that anyone else did anything to Santina either.

Near the end of the trial, the prosecutor addressed the constant mantra from witnesses that Karen was trustworthy. He said:

“It is a refrain. It is a crutch. It is a drumbeat in those interviews. There’s evidence that someone trusted her with their own kids. I thought, what has that got to do with anything? But I am wrong. Karen Harrington being trusted with a child actually is the point. Michael Cawley trusted her. He had no reason to believe harm would come to that child. It is one of the first things that he said. But sometimes people you trust betray that trust.”

The Verdict and Aftermath

In the end, the jury of seven men and four women took 4 hours and 46 minutes to find Karen Harrington guilty of the murder of Santina Cawley.

News Report:

The silence in courtroom number six was broken when the jury announced that Karen Harrington, seen here earlier this morning on her way into court, was guilty of murdering Santina Cawley. She showed no emotion as the verdict was returned. July 5th, 2019, and Harrington was caring for little Santina at her apartment in Cork while the infant’s father was looking for a cousin of his in town. The trial heard Harrington and Michael Cawley had been arguing earlier in the night. Shortly after 5:00 a.m., Michael Cawley returned to find his daughter lying in a bloodstained duvet, fighting for her life. She died in her mother’s arms a number of hours later. A postmortem found 2-year-old Santina Cawley, described in court as little and defenseless, sustained a complex fractured skull, an injury to her spinal cord, as well as 49 external injuries and four internal injuries. At all times, 38-year-old Harrington had denied she murdered Santina Cawley, but the trial was told DNA and CCTV don’t lie. Karen Harrington is now beginning her first night of a life sentence behind bars…

One of the lead investigators, Inspector Danny Coholan, who spoke to the media, was part of that investigation team: “The murder of Santina Cawley has had a profound impact on Santina’s extended family and across the community. An Garda Síochána notes the decision the court has made today in the conviction and sentence of Karen Harrington for the murder of Santina. The early provision of statements, CCTV, social media clips, doorbell cameras, and cooperation with house-to-house inquiries greatly aided this investigation. I would like to particularly thank the dedicated investigation team who have worked on this case for almost three years. Justice for Santina was always the ultimate goal for the team since her murder on the 5th of July 2019. This was a particularly emotive case for the members that attended the scene and the investigation team, many having children of a similar age. Santina was always in our thoughts. We would like to again publicly express our sympathies to Santina’s family, and An Garda Síochána will continue to support them as they continue to grieve for Santina.”

Mr. Justice Michael McGrath, who presided over this trial, also acknowledged and complimented the investigation team.

Victim Impact Statements

Just before Karen Harrington was sentenced this afternoon, Victim Impact statements were read out on behalf of Santina’s mother, Bridget O’Donoghue, and her father, Michael Cawley, who left court without making a comment. But basically summing up those Victim Impact statements, Michael Cawley said his daughter was beautiful and fun-loving. His little girl had a very, very cute smile; her beautiful blue eyes and red hair will be sorely missed. May 6th, he said, was Santina’s birthday. She would have been five during this trial, but he said all they have now are Heavenly birthdays.

Her mother, Bridget O’Donoghue, said she can remember receiving a knock on the door in the early hours of the morning on July 5th, 2019, a garda standing there telling her that Santina had been involved in an accident and she had to go to Cork University Hospital, where a number of hours later, little Santina was placed in her mother’s arms. She said she can remember the bruising and the swelling on her little girl’s face, and she said, basically, my little girl was in a dreadful condition. Her anger towards Karen Harrington, she said, will never, ever dissipate, and she said she always thinks about what Santina may have been thinking in the final moments of her life.

On the way out of court this afternoon, Bridget was accompanied by her solicitor, Donald Daly, who made a statement on behalf of Bridget O’Donoghue:

“I’ve been asked by Bridget, mother of Santina, to make a very brief statement in respect to this matter. She would like to thank the gardaí for their professionalism and humanity throughout this case. She especially wishes to mention Garda Brendan Ryan, Detective Comer Crotty, Detective Inspector Danny Coholan. She would also like to thank her neighbors for their support throughout this nightmare. She will be forever in debt to the first responders and the medical staff of CUH who fought so long and so hard to save Santina’s life. She has said all there is to say in her Victim Impact report and doesn’t wish to make any further comments. She now wishes simply to get on with her life to mourn Santina with her children. Thank you very much.”

Sentencing

The circumstances of this case were completely and absolutely shocking, and no parent should have to bury their child. Those were some of the words from Mr. Justice Michael McGrath while he was handing down the mandatory life sentence to Karen Harrington. She, of course, made no reaction, gave no reaction, made no statement whatsoever. She was standing by her decision that she did not murder Santina Cawley. She was then led from the courthouse to begin a journey where she will now spend the rest of her life in Limerick Prison.

Karen Harrington was convicted to a life sentence and is currently serving her time in Limerick Prison, where she spends much of her time separated from other inmates for her own safety.

Shortly after the conviction, Bridget received a letter in the mail claiming to be from Karen. The letter continued to claim that Karen was innocent. It begged for understanding and sympathy, saying things like “the constant heartache is unbearable.” It also contained a plea that the two women needed to talk in detail. Bridget was understandably disturbed and scared by this letter, as Karen shouldn’t have any way to contact her. Any letter she wrote should have been screened before it left the prison. It is still unclear if this letter was truly from Karen or if it was a hoax.

Around that time, Bridget was also facing the prospect of becoming homeless, unable to return to the home that she had shared with her baby. She was staying with her mother; however, her mother was moving into a smaller unit and had no room for Bridget and her children. She made a plea for assistance in August of 2022 with help to find housing for herself and her kids. There was no follow-up to that story, and we are unsure where the family is now.

In early 2024, Karen attempted to appeal her sentence. Her basis for the appeal was that the Garda had breached her privacy by using the CCTV footage that showed both of her doorways. Her appeal was denied as all footage was in public spaces.

Remembering Santina

If Santina were still alive today, she would have turned five at the time of Karen’s trial. Santina is remembered as being the most perfect little girl. Her mother described her as being the essence of pink. She described her as being so perfect that one of her middle names was Barbie because she felt she was a perfect little doll. She’s remembered as being happy, easygoing, and that she never cried. Santina’s 15-year-old sister created a shrine for her in their home. She lit a candle for her sister every day.

At the end of Karen’s trial, Bridget had the following to say about Santina during her Victim Impact statement:

“She loved her rhymes, her cartoons, and Barney. She loved her trips to town with me and her Nana on a Wednesday. She would hop into the buggy and knew the routine. She was very cute for her age. She was clever and bright. She knew all the names of the Teletubbies and was a happy child. She had an old soul; she seemed to be here before. She brought so much joy to our family, and her brothers and sisters adored her. My last memory of Santina was her hugging and squeezing me and not wanting me to leave. I regret leaving her so much that day. I wish I could go back in time. I never could have imagined I would get my baby back passed away in my arms in a dreadful condition.”