Carlow churchgoer speaks of distress of couple abandoning baby.

A Carlow churchgoer who spoke to a distressed couple who abandoned an eight-month old baby in the porch of the town’s cathedral has revealed that she was fraught with worry about the pair after meeting them.

The unnamed parishioner recalled at the weekend that she had chatted with a very upset young woman as she lit a candle in the side porch.  “I was in the church at lunchtime to light a candle when a young girl started talking to me,' she said.  “I knew by her that she was upset and she said to me I wonder if there is a God.”

The Carlow woman said she did not know how to react but could see the young woman was upset.  “She had tears in her eyes and she had the baby with her in the pram,” she recalled.  “I asked her if she was alright but I knew she wasn't - she looked like a nice girl and I felt so sorry for her.”

“She asked me if I had a mobile phone and if I would ring the Gardaí but I told her I hadn't my phone with me.” 

The woman said the distraught girl revealed she was in trouble and “had taken her baby out of England.  I think she was worried that she'd heard the authorities were looking for her.”

The worshipper who met the young couple before they abandoned the baby said the young lady told her the baby she had with her was her own. 

She said she offered to bring her to the Garda station in Carlow but at that stage, the young woman’s partner came in and said they “would be alright.”

“I could tell the young guy was upset as well, he looked like a nice chap and he had tears in his eyes,” the Carlow woman said.

She said that after leaving the Cathedral, she decided to contact the Gardaí and then met a colleague who reported seeing the young couple leave the Cathedral without the baby.

The woman decided to return to the cathedral but by then the couple had gone and another parishioner had found the baby along with a note giving his name and his date of birth.

“I was so upset and worried about her, they looked like a nice couple and the baby looked well cared for,” the woman said.

The young couple - aged 24 and 21 - were subsequently arrested in Wales.  A British court was told they had taken the child from his grandmother's home and out of the UK without consent.

by Fintan Deere