A 34-year-old woman wept in the dock of Belfast Crown Court today (Thursday), where she admitted causing the death of her baby son and attempting to murder her daughter.
The woman, who can’t be named due to a reporting restriction, will be sentenced for the two offences later this month.
She stood trial in 2023 on charges of murdering her eight-week-old son and attempting to murder his two-year-old sister.
Both children sustained stab wounds inflicted by their mother in their home on July 27, 2021.
They were rushed to the Accident and Emergency department at the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children.
Whilst the young girl was successfully treated for a stab wound to her chest, her baby brother was pronounced dead at 9pm.
At the conclusion of the trial in March 2023, the woman was convicted by a jury on both charges, and the following month, she was handed a minimum 20-year sentence.
In December 2025, the two convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal, with the Judges concluding that the guilty verdicts over the double stabbing were unsafe.
The woman’s lawyers mounted a legal bid to overturn the verdicts based on issues around the trial process.
Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan backed those grounds of challenge and said she “cannot be satisfied that the convictions are safe.”
The defendant was back in court today where her barrister Charles MacCreanor KC told Mr Justice Fowler that the Crown had an application to amend the bill of indictment.
This was confirmed by Crown barrister Sam Magee KC, who said the bill had been amended to include a third count.
Following this, the woman was re-arraigned on a charge of attempting to murder her daughter.
As she wept in the dock, she was asked by a court clerk how now she pleaded to the charge and she replied “guilty.”
The offence of infanticide was then put to the woman.
She was charged that on July 27, 2021 she caused the death of her child aged under 12 months by a wilful act, namely stabbing and wounding him with a knife, but at a time when the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of the fact that she had not fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to the child.
Asked to enter a plea to this charge, she replied “guilty.”
Mr Justice Fowler was then addressed by Mr Magee who said that “in the circumstances” the Crown’s application was to leave the charge of murdering the baby “on the books” and it would not be proceeded with.
Saying the case had a “complex history”, Mr Magee said that in light of the guilty pleas the next step was the sentencing of the woman.
The prosecuting barrister added that the Crown would be seeking an update on the surviving child.
Mr Justice Fowler then enquired about the compilation of a pre-sentence report on the woman and was told by her barrister that one was being sought.
Expressing a desire that this is compiled as quickly as possible, Mr Justice Fowler set the date for sentencing the woman as Friday August 28.
As the conclusion of today’s hearing, the woman was led from the dock and back into custody by two prison officers.
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