A mother purposefully exposed her young daughter to the sex she was having with various men by removing the door to her bedroom, a shocking inquiry has revealed.
Sharon Goldie, 49, dismissed her 13-year-old daughter’s severe illness as “exaggeration” at their home in Wishaw, Lanarkshire in 2018. Instead of caring for her gravely ill daughter Robyn, Goldie left her on the sofa watching Tipping Point while she went out for a night of drinking at the pub.
Upon returning home, she found her daughter unresponsive on the sofa. In an act of chilling indifference, the heartless mother continued her drinking session outside the house with another person. When she eventually checked on Robyn, she discovered that the girl had stopped breathing.
The schoolgirl tragically died from peritonitis and a perforated duodenal ulcer, reports the Mirror.
The public outcry following Robyn’s death led to an inquiry which heard that Goldie was frequently intoxicated and “entertaining men at home”. It was revealed that Robyn’s bedroom door had been taken off and never replaced, leading to suspicions that the young girl was forced to witness the sexual activity occurring in her home.
In 2020, Goldie was sentenced to three years and six months in prison after she admitted to wilful ill treatment and neglect of her daughter between July 2017 and July 2018. The court heard how she had committed multiple offences, including failing to provide adequate food, clothing, or heating, allowing her child to consume alcohol and smoke cannabis, and subjecting her to squalid living conditions that led to the girl contracting fleas from cat urine and faeces in their home, which Goldie also acknowledged guilt for.
The Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC has called for an inquiry into the death of the 13-year-old, citing it as a matter of “serious public concern”. The forthcoming inquiry will examine potential preventative measures that could have averted the tragedy and explore future safeguards to prevent similar incidents. It will scrutinise the family’s interactions with social services, according to MailOnline reports.
Procurator Fiscal Katrina Parkes stated: “The Lord Advocate considers that the death of Robyn Goldie occurred in circumstances giving rise to significant public concern and as such a discretionary Fatal Accident Inquiry should be held.”
She added: “An FAI will allow a full public airing of all the available evidence at which interested parties will be represented. The evidence will be tested in a public setting and be the subject of an independent judicial determination.”
Robyn reportedly informed social workers that she had witnessed her mother engaging in sexual activities with various men at their shared residence. This alarming information was duly passed through the appropriate channels, prompting concerns for Robyn’s safety to be escalated to social services.
During a fatal accident inquiry at Hamilton Sheriff Court, it emerged that tensions reached a climax when Robyn, after eight years with her grandmother, was placed back under her mother’s care.
Independent social worker Maggie Mellon, who was engaged in the case, testified that there was credible evidence backing Robyn’s disturbing allegations. The 70 year old social worker stated: “The biggest question was whether she could safely stay in her mother’s care and it was thought she could be made safe through advice and guidance.
“There was some disturbing evidence being known such as that Robyn did not have a bedroom door which had been taken off by Sharon and had never been put back again. Her mother had been entertaining men at home drunk and Robyn had been exposed to her mother’s sexual activity and there were adult men in the house behaving inappropriately towards Robyn in the home.”
Furthermore, Goldie had expressed to social workers her reluctance to care for her daughter, citing the “stress it was causing her”. The court also heard how the mother dissuaded Robyn from reporting an alleged rape, warning of the court proceedings that would follow.
Despite council staff urging Goldie to reveal the full details of the alleged assault, she failed to do so, as disclosed at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
During the inquiry, social worker Brian McNott, aged 39, expressed deep concern over a parent’s reaction to her child’s distressing situation, revealing: “Robyn had made an allegation of rape and Sharon’s response to that I found to be really concerning. I felt it was a really underwhelming response to something that her daughter had said she had gone through and she spoke Robyn down from seeking police intervention. We had to direct Sharon to get Robyn a doctor’s appointment and we found out that she didn’t give full information in respect of the allegation of rape to the doctor. That was a real concern of her ability to make sure Robyn was safe and to get her medical intervention if required.”
