A girl has described the moment her mother locked a bedroom door before a murder attempt in which the child was stabbed more than 70 times.
In a victim impact statement read to the Central Criminal Court by a garda, the young girl, who is now in foster care, said she no longer loved the defendant but did not hate her either.
She told her mother: “I hope you have a nice time in prison.”
The court heard that neighbours made a frantic effort during the attack to reach the girl, who was heard telling her mother: “Mum don’t do this, I will die”.
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Last January, a jury unanimously found the girl’s mother, a 49-year-old Russian national, guilty of the attempted murder of her then eight-year-old daughter.
In specialist interviews with gardaí, the girl described how her mother held a knife over her and told her: “I’m going to kill you and after will kill myself, as that will be best.” She said her mother also told her: “This is what needs to happen, it’s for the best.”
The defendant, who cannot be named to protect her daughter’s right to anonymity, denied the charge before the Central Criminal Court sitting in Limerick.
The trial heard the defendant had told gardaí following her arrest that she was “out of my mind” when she attacked her daughter.
Dt Gda Cathal Reilly detailed the events to the court, telling counsel that the defendant, along with her Ukrainian husband and daughter, had fled the war in Ukraine in March 2022, six months before the attack on the girl.
The detective said the mother and daughter had stayed in a number of temporary accommodation premises before finding shared accommodation.
The court heard the defendant was suffering from depression, had lost weight and had been taken to hospital.
Prosecuting barrister Lorcan Connolly said that on the morning of September 27th, 2022, the defendant had got up at 7am and gone to the communal kitchen area. He said a Ukrainian woman in the house had given evidence to the trial that she saw the defendant preparing breakfast before returning to her bedroom. Within five minutes, the witness said, she heard screams coming from the bedroom.
When the witness went to investigate, she found the defendant’s bedroom door locked. The detective said “desperate” efforts were made by her and others to open the door. He said the defendant had claimed “everything was okay” inside the room but would not open the door.
The witness and her husband heard the girl say: “Mum don’t do this, I will die”. The witness recalled that the defendant had replied to the child “we will die together”.
Gardaí arrived at 8am.
The girl, who was wearing only underwear, was found with multiple wounds in the shower area. There was blood flowing into the drain of the shower and the girl’s skin was turning white.
Reilly said the defendant was beside the child staring into space and failed to respond to garda instruction. The mother was removed from the en suite and handcuffed before her “seriously injured” daughter was rushed by ambulance to hospital.
A doctor noted a rapid heart rate along with 72 wounds, two abrasions and a ligature mark to the child’s neck.
The child’s condition gradually improved and she was later released from hospital.
The child said her mother told her she was scared someone was going to take her daughter away.
When the defendant was interviewed in March, 2023 she told gardaí: “It wasn’t planned and I didn’t do it on purpose.” She said she had a long history of anxiety and depression.
The defendant, who has no previous convictions, told officers she had awoken in an acute anxious state with a fixation that her daughter would not be returned to her.
Judge Kerida Naidoo remanded the defendant in custody until May 5th, when counsel will make submissions on sentencing.
