Garda tells court ‘grey’ toddler had no pulse
A GARDA sergeant has told the murder trial when he undertook CPR on Santina Cawley he believed she was dead before detecting a “faint heartbeat”.
Karen Harrington, 37, is on trial at a Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork charged with the murder of the two-year-old on July 5, 2019.
The child passed away at Cork University Hospital in spite of desperate efforts by medics to revive her.
Sgt Brian Teahan, who is a licenced emergency medical technician, said he was called to the scene at the Boreenmanna Road apartment complex at 5.25am on July 5, 2019.
DISTRESSED
He was informed by another garda that he was attending a crime scene and that a child appeared to be dead.
Sgt Teahan arrived at the door of 26 Elderwood Park and met the father of the child, Michael Cawley, who was very distressed.
The garda said: “He kept saying ‘She [Karen] has killed my daughter.’ He asked, ‘Is she dead?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’
“I left a colleague at the door. I [went in to the apartment] and observed a child who appeared to be deceased.
“She was face up on a duvet in the centre of the room. The child appeared to be deceased.
“I was concerned with the colour of her skin. Her skin was lacking in profusion. Grey. Colourless.”
Sgt Teahan said there was no pulse on her neck but he when he put his hands on Santina’s chest he detected “a very faint heartbeat”.
He added: “I started CPR compressions. I delivered oxygenated air to the child from an O2 cylinder.”
Sgt Teahan said that the HSE advanced paramedics then took over the care of Santina.