Woman (34) given 10 years for killing infant son and attempting to murder daughter (2)

A 34-year old woman who caused the death of her eight-week old son and attempted to murder her two-year-old wept today as she was handed a 10-year sentence.The woman, who cannot be named due to a reporting restriction, stabbed both children in their family home on July 27th, 2021.The sentence imposed on Tuesday at Belfast Crown Court was divided equally between prison time and supervised licence by Judge Stephen Fowler.Due to the time she has already served in custody, the woman is due to be released imminently and will then begin the five-year period on licence.READ MOREThe defendant was initially charged with murdering her son and attempting to murder her daughter.She denied the charges and, following a trial in 2023, was convicted of both offences and handed a 20-year sentence.These convictions were overturned by the court of appeal and she was due to be retried on both charges.After being examined at length by medics, a consultant forensic psychiatrist concluded the woman was suffering from an abnormality arising from a depressive episode.When this report was made available, a charge of infanticide was admitted by the woman.As well as pleading to a charge of attempting to murder her daughter, the woman also admitted causing the death of her child aged under 12 months, 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.During the sentence hearing, the judge set out the background to the double-stabbing.He said the woman had met the children’s father when she was 26 and he a man of 48 with a “significant criminal record”.He added: “The evidence establishes that in the period before the offences, the relationship between the defendant and her partner had been characterised by domestic violence, sexual abuse, threats and coercive control.”On July 24th, 2021, the woman contacted the PSNI to report an altercation at the family home and expressed fears for her children. As a result, her partner was arrested and removed from the family home.Three days later, the woman wrote a series of diary entries. She said her partner had left to be with another woman, and did not care for her or the children, and that she had chosen to take their lives so no one would mock them any more. The entries also included expressions of love for her partner and a reference to waiting in heaven for him.The judge said that later that evening, the defendant had “armed herself with kitchen knives and attacked both children”.Following this, she called her partner - who was by then in England - telling him she loved him and that she had just killed their baby son.He immediately contacted police in England, who alerted the PSNI.Before officers attended the family home, she also called the PSNI and said she had killed her children.The court heard the woman’s daughter is in foster care, and intensive work has been carried out to explain why she had not seen her baby brother and mother.A report from a social worker outlined that, five years on, the child is more settled in her long-term foster placement, but continues to require support for her emotional health and well-being.As he imposed the 10-year sentence, Fowler said he had considered the imbalance in the mother’s mind due to the affects of childbirth and depression, as well as her otherwise clear criminal record.As she is due to be released imminently, the senior judge said that during her period on licence, the woman must live at an approved address.She is banned from having any unsupervised contact with a person under the age of 18 unless approved by social services.As she was led by into custody by prison staff, the woman continued to sob as relatives of her now-deceased partner sat in the public gallery.