Posted: July 18th, 2021
A five-year-old child who was locked up alone in a hotel creche has had a €16,000 compensation settlement approved at the Circuit Civil Court.
Earlier this week Barrister Eamon Shanahan informed presiding Judge John O’Connor that the child in question, Chloe O’Donovan from Co Cork, was locked into the Kid’s Club at the Mount Wolseley Hotel by mistake. He went on to describe how that child became very distressed and attempted to free herself and unlock the creche door, unsuccessfully, leading to further trauma.
Mount Wolseley Hospitality Limited had been sued for wrongful imprisonment and negligence by Chloe, through her mother.
Judge O’Connor was provided with a statement from Chloe’s mother Brenda Griffin (of Manor Mills, Rathcormac, Co Cork0 outlining the course of events that took place during a family break at the Mount Wolseley Hotel in Co Carlow when the incident occurred during July 2017.
Relaying the course of events that lead to now nine-year-old was locked into the the hotel creche (Kids Club, on her own for 30 minutes Brenda said: “After I collected her she did not speak for about an hour but gradually described what had occurred and how she had tried to leave the room and had started crying when she found she could not do so.”
She told the judge that this impacted Chloe clearly and that she (Ms Griffin) noted a shift in her daughter’s mood following the incident. In particular Chloe had become very much more dependent on her parents. Additionally she would grow increasingly anxious if left alone even for a short period of time and experienced intermittent nightmares for a short time in the aftermath of the creche incident.
In order to spare Chloe from an additional trauma, her family chose not to arrange formal treatment to deal with these issues. Instead of this they opted to treat her sensitively at home with love and additional care. Mr Shanahan told the Judge: “Chloe made a full recovery and I am recommending the proffered settlement to the court.”
As he was approving the €16,000 child injury compensation settlement at the Circuit Court, Judge O’Connor referred to the experience of the young girl as ‘harrowing’.
Categories: Child injury News
