Couple loses second bid to have care orders lifted and children returned

A couple has lost its second bid to have care orders revoked and two boys returned, with a court finding that conditions at home justified the removal of the children. Mr Justice Tonio Mallia delivered this judgement following an application filed by Charmaine Farrugia, the mother of a three year old boy and an eight-month old  baby, and  Jimmy Sacco, the father of the baby. The care orders were issued last March after the three year old boy was taken to hospital with a broken skull. According to his mother and her partner, the boy had fallen from his bed, but the hospital doctors had found that the boy had also suffered, on previous occasions, a broken leg and a broken wrist which had not been reported to the hospital. This indicated that the boy had been injured on three separate occasions. The consultant paediatrician who examined the boy concluded that it was unlikely that the injuries had been caused by accident. The baby was not injured but a care order was issued in his regard as a precautionary measure. A Magistrates' Court had rejected a request for the care orders to be lifted, and the couple then filed an application before the Constitutional Court, claiming violation...