The mother put pain-relieving patches on two young sons before stabbing them in the neck and body, the court said

A mother put several pain-relieving morphine patches on her two young sons before stabbing them in the neck and body because she didn’t want them to feel pain, a jury heard today.

The jury also heard that the 41-year-old, who is being tried for the murder and attempted murder of her two young sons, had written several notes the morning she stabbed them, in one she wrote that she gave them medication because “she didn’t want them to be in pain”.

Other “goodbye letters” said, “I’m taking my kids because I can’t leave them with their father” and “I don’t want to feel completely torn by taking my own children’s lives.”

Before prosecutors opened the trial at Antrim Crown Court, Judge Patricia Smyth warned jurors they must be “ready to hear evidence that may upset you” but that, as individuals and as a body, they put aside any sympathy, prejudice or emotion would have to and evaluate the evidence in peace.

The 41-year-old, who cannot be identified to protect the youngest victim and her other children, is charged with the March 2, 2020 murder of her two-year-old, 10-month-old son. and attempted murder of their other son, who was 11 months old.

Judge Smyth told the jury “there is no dispute” that the defendant stabbed the children, but “what is at issue is their state of mind at the material time.”

According to Prosecutor QC Charles MacCreanor, while doctors determined the defendant suffered from a form of personality disorder or possibly autism, he told the jury they were hearing evidence from doctors who treated her at the Shannon Clinic that she was “faking symptoms.” and simulation pretended”.

“In simple terms, in my words, she dressed it, invented it, invented the grievances, and while some of what she said is or may be true, her story is considered unreliable,” he said senior lawyer

“We say, of course, that this is a compelling case and evidence that the defendant committed murder and attempted murder,” he submitted to the jury.

The day of March 2, 2020 started quite normally in the family home – everyone got up early and went to school and work at 9 a.m. But within an hour, one child would be dead and the other rushed to the hospital for life-saving surgery.

The boys’ father received a text message from the defendant asking if they “could talk,” and when he suggested leaving the subject until after hours, the defendant texted him a message that said, “F*** you “.

“He ignored that,” the attorney said, but added that within the next 20 minutes the father received more text messages saying, “I’m sorry… I killed the bots.” [auto corrected from boys] and I die”.

“He called her right away and she answers the phone … and she says to him, ‘Did you call an ambulance?’ and then they hang up,” Mr. MacCreanor told the jury.

He rushed to his house, kicked the front door off its hinges, and ran into the heavily blood-stained master bedroom, where he found his partner on the bed soaked in blood and his children “just looking lifeless.”

In a scene described by defense QC Kieran Mallon as “just carnage,” the jury heard how the little boy who died had suffered stab wounds that punctured his airway and severed an artery and vein, resulting in a ” fairly rapid loss of life, in addition to a stab wound in his chest which had caused a collapsed lung and would itself be life-threatening if left untreated.

When police first arrived, his little brother was feeding on his mother, but when a police officer took him to examine him, he began “screaming in desperation” and was found to have sustained two stab wounds, one on his neck and one on his abdomen.

As it was taken from her, jurors heard the five-inch knife used to stab the children being held between the mother and son and an officer set it aside.

Mr MacCreanor told the jury the baby’s wounds nearly severed his carotid artery and he suffered a partial collapsed lung, adding that the little boy’s injuries were “life-threatening” unless his injuries were treated.

The defendant herself had also sustained injuries — stab wounds to the left side of her chest and neck — and although jurors heard the bed she was lying on was soaked in blood, “we’re not talking about life-threatening injuries” to her.

Eventually questioned by police, she claimed she had “no recollection of what might have happened to her children,” and when asked if she stabbed the boys to punish her partner, “she said she could.” to not remember”.

Regarding legal issues for the jury to focus on, Mr MacCreanor said there was “no question” that the defendant stabbed her sons, but the defense team raised a “partial defence” that she was under such a substantial Abnormality of mind affected her thinking and perception of judgment.

He stated that they would find them guilty if they “strongly believe” that the defendant intends to kill or cause genuinely serious harm, but if they feel it is “more likely than not” that she is involved in such a manner severe abnormality of mind that if this affected her thinking, they would find her guilty of manslaughter on the basis of diminished criminal responsibility.

Constable Kerrigan, the first officer to arrive at the scene, said the boys’ father was “frantic, totally panicked… he was white, almost grey… and howling uncontrollably”.

“He would stand, lean, sometimes fall to the ground, over the center island in the kitchen, saying things like, ‘The boys are dead. She killed my boys, and she just cried,'” the officer said. “He was just completely broken.”

She told junior prosecutor Michael Chambers that the paramedic treating the older boy “just looked at me and shook his head” as she walked into the bedroom. His little body was just limp.”

The process goes on.