A father who admitted neglecting his infant daughter after she died had his jail sentence overturned today by appeal judges.
Michael Conroy failed to provide adequate nutrition and fluids for 19-month-old Keira and left her alone and unattended for extended periods of time at a house on Greenwood Crescent in Coatbridge.
Conroy admitted to ‘wilfully causing or procuring her to be ill-treated, neglected, and exposed in a manner likely to cause her unnecessary suffering or injury to her health.
According to the charge, Conroy ‘failed to provide Kiera with adequate nourishment and fluids, left her alone and unattended for excessive periods of time, and failed to provide suitable living conditions’ in the three days before his daughter died.
Conroy admitted to neglecting Kiera at the end of 2017 when he and Kiera’s mother, Kirsty Boyle, left her alone in a room for nearly an entire day before she died.
Boyle, 24, previously stated that the couple had a ‘bad habit’ of pulling all-nighters in which they would stay up all night watching TV or playing video games.
On December 19, 2017, they did just that, watching a box set and playing phone games until 6.30 a.m. the next morning.
They slept for the majority of the next day, waking up at 3 p.m. on December 20.
Conroy finally went to see his daughter around 5 p.m., and she was’very white’ with sick around her mouth.
Kiera was only given four chicken nuggets and spaghetti hoops before being left without food or milk for 21 hours, according to an investigation.
The baby was also living in a “filthy flat” full of “suffocation hazards” and filthy nappies.
Boyle was charged with the same offence at first, but she pleaded not guilty and prosecutors accepted her denial.
Conroy also admitted to exposing his daughter to street Valium pills after tablets were discovered in her travel cot.
Conroy, 28, was sentenced to more than a year in prison at Airdrie Sheriff Court after admitting to wilfully neglecting the child between December 18 and 20, 2017 in a way that was likely to cause her unnecessary suffering or harm to her health.
He also failed to provide suitable living conditions for his daughter, who was also exposed to the drug valium on the street, though there was no evidence she ingested it.
Keira, who was born prematurely, was discovered pale and cold, and resuscitation attempts failed.
However, Conroy’s lawyers were successful in their challenge to the prison sentence imposed on him at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh.
The wilful neglect in this case was not directly linked to the child’s death,” defence counsel Craig Findlater told appeal judges.
“There was no overarching callousness or vindictiveness in this case. Rather, there was a lack of responsibility on the part of the appellant, who was, after all, a young person at the time.”
Conroy, he said, was still in a relationship with Kiera’s mother, and the couple had another child.
Lord Doherty, who heard the appeal alongside Lord Malcolm, described it as “an anxious case” for the sentencing sheriff, who gave it careful thought.
Conroy’s background report indicated that he was suitable for a non-custodial disposition, but the sheriff believed that a jail term was necessary due to the seriousness of the offence.
Lord Doherty stated that the appeal judges were convinced that an alternative disposition was available and appropriate, and he imposed a community payback order requiring 200 hours of unpaid work.
“We will grant the appeal and vacate the sentence imposed by the sheriff,” the judge said.
Lord Doherty stated that Conroy was 24 at the time of the offence and had not yet reached full maturity.
He had not previously served a custodial sentence and had not committed any further offences in the interim.
Conroy watched the appeal proceedings from Addiewell prison via video link.
Conroy was given unpaid work in 2016 after threatening to murder his own mother. When the cops arrived to arrest him, he assaulted them.
