MUM TRIED TO MURDER DAUGHTER AFTER MENTAL HEALTH SUDDENLY DETERIORATED
A nursery worker tried to kill her beloved 11 year-old daughter in a horrific knife attack after mental health workers failed to spot the extent of her illness, a court heard today (thurs).
The 48 year-old mother had been living a ‘perfectly normal life’ until she suddenly developed depression and started suffering from delusions.
She was prescribed drugs but stopped taking them after complaining that they gave her ‘bad thoughts.’
Two weeks later, a few days after she bought a sharp knife, the family was visited at their home but it was decided to return her to the care of her GP.
The next day the mother took the girl to a park in Ealing, west London, and tried to kill her before taking her own life.
Her daughter later told how she repeatedly told her mother: ‘I love you’ as she was stabbed at least ten times in the chest and abdomen.
She only survived thanks to a ten hour operation to repair injuries to her bowel and kidney. The girl, a keen pianist, also suffered injuries to her hands fending off the attack and now finds playing the instrument difficult.
Her mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, remains mentally ill and has been diagnosed with depression.
David Hislop QC, defending, told the Old Bailey: ‘She was an exceptionally good mother and wife. She was the foundation and heart of a very happy family and she did nothing to precipitate the onset of this severe mental disorder.
‘It wrecked and continues to wreck her life, the life of her husband and the lives of her children.
‘The mental health team failed to appreciate the severity of her mental health and the day before discharged her back to her GP and one can only imagine the helplessness that must have caused.’
The court heard how the mother suddenly began to suffer delusions about her physical health during Easter 2010 and was put into the care of the community mental health team in Brent.
Prosecutor Bobbie Cheema said: ‘She is a woman who lived a perfectly normal life. She had been in employment, she had an engaging personality.
‘No one is able to explain how or why this mental illness developed but from around Easter she began to become withdrawn, she lost weight and complained of tiredness.’
Medication was prescribed but it is thought she had not taken it for at least a couple of weeks.
About a week before the attack she took her daughter shopping in Ealing Broadway and bought a large, sharp knife.
The girl later told how she questioned her mother what it was for but was told it was ‘for a friend.’
On August 6 last year the family was visited by members of the mental health team, who discharged her back to her GP.
‘It is clear that she was very anxious about this and expressed suicidal thoughts and told her husband she was having bad thoughts,’ said Miss Cheema.
The next day the 11 year-old girl wanted some ingredients to do some baking.
Her mother said she would take her daughter to the shops but instead took her to St Margaret’s Field in Ealing.
Miss Cheema said: ‘It is clear she had decided to kill herself. She had also formed the intention to kill her own daughter.
‘In her condition she decided her daughter would be better off dead than have to continue living without her mother.
‘It is clear there was a close bond between mother and daughter.’
After taking the girl to a grass area, she took out the knife and began stabbing her daughter in the back and stomach.
The girl also suffered wounds to her arms and hands as she tried to fend off the blows, at one point forcing her mother to drop the knife.
‘The child recalled she kept telling her mother she loved her. The defendant asked her daughter for a hug at one point and then continued to stab her,’ said Miss Cheema.
Once the girl fell to the ground, bleeding heavily, her mother began to stab herself in the stomach.
Police and paramedics were called to the scene and the girl was found to have suffered a lacerated kidney and four perforations to the bowel.
Miss Cheema said: ‘There is no doubt there will be long-lasting effects. She still has limited power and strength in her upper limbs and limited movement in her hands.
‘She used to play the piano and she now finds that difficult.’
The mother told police: ‘I am sorry. They gave me the wrong pills. The pills gave me bad thoughts.’
She pleaded guilty to attempted murder at the Old Bailey and was detained without limit of time under sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act, 1983.
Judge Stephen Kramer QC said: ‘This is a tragic case for everyone involved. At the time these injuries were caused, you were suffering from a severe depressive episode with psychotic symptoms.
‘You are still suffering from depression. I am satisfied that you are suffering from a mental disorder which makes it appropriate for you to be detained in hospital.
‘I am satisfied that it is necessary for the protection of the public from serious harm for a restriction order to be made.’
ends
