Woman charged with attempted murder after stabbing daughter (8) over 70 times, trial told 

David Raleigh

A woman who fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine with her family to Ireland later stabbed her eight-year-old daughter over 70 times in an attempt to murder the girl, it was alleged at her trial on Monday.

The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her now 11-year-old daughter, pleaded not guilty to the girl’s attempted murder at the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Limerick.

During her arraignment, in which she entered a not guilty plea, the woman told the court: “I was out of my mind at that time”.

The court heard the woman used a knife and a phone charging cable as a ligature during the alleged attack on the girl, at a property in Co Clare, on September 27th, 2022.

Outline the alleged facts, prosecuting barrister, senior counsel Lorcan Connolly, told the jury that Gardaí responded to an alert at the property at 7.40am on the morning in question.

Gardaí forced their way into a locked room where they discovered the accused in a bathroom holding the girl who had “cuts all over her body”.

Mr Connolly said the girl was bleeding heavily and had sustained in excess of 70 stab wounds, including to her neck and torso, and, he said, there was a phone charger cable in her hair.

The girl was rushed by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and later transferred to Crumlin Children’s Hospital, Dublin, where she was treated for life-threatening injuries and survived.

Mr Connolly said that, when Gardaí entered the room where the accused and her daughter were found, the accused was not very responsive and seemed confused. A number of packets of prescription drugs were also found at the scene.

The woman was brought to UHL where she was treated for a suspected drug overdose, and she was later transferred to a psychiatric hospital.

Mr Connolly told the jury they would hear from Garda interviews with the accused, in which she told gardaí she intended to end her daughter’s life and then end her own life.

The prosecution barrister told the jury they would have to determine on the evidence presented in court whether or not the accused was fully aware of what she was doing, or if she had been “labouring under a mental disorder”, and that she “lacked the necessary intent”.

Mr Connolly said DVD-recorded interviews between the girl and specially-trained Garda interviewers, in which the girl describes her interactions with her mother, in the lead up to the attack, will be played in court.

The accused has two barristers acting for her, including senior counsel, Mark Nicholas, and Antoinette Simon, BL, instructed by Kieran O’Brien Solicitors.

Mr Connolly, for the prosecution, is assisted by Rebecca Smart, BL, and instructed by the office of the State Solicitor.

A jury of seven men and five women was sworn in before trial judge Kerida Naidoo.

The trial continues on Tuesday.