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Toddler very lucky to survive stabbing by mother, court told

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Laganside Courts, Belfast

A toddler who was stabbed by her mother in Northern Ireland was "very lucky" to survive, a court has been told.

Her baby brother died after also being stabbed.

The children's mother is charged with murdering her eight-week-old son and attempting to murder his two-year-old sister in July 2021.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, accepts she stabbed the children but denies the charges.

On the third day of her trial, Belfast Crown Court heard from a consultant paediatric surgeon who treated the toddler.

She told the court a single stab wound had made contact with the child's "cardiac apex", had gone through the diaphragm and top part of her liver.

When asked how close the stab wound was to the toddler's heart, she said: "About as close as you can get."

She said the child had undergone surgery to repair her diaphragm and was "very lucky" the knife hadn't made more contact with her heart.

The court heard the girl had since made a full recovery.

'Large wound to the heart'

The court also heard from the pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination on her baby brother.

In his evidence, the pathologist said two stab wounds that were very close together had caused "a large wound to the heart" while also damaging the aorta and the baby's lung.

He said: "Such injuries would have caused his fairly rapid death."

The pathologist added that "no more than moderate force" would have been required to cause the injuries.

A statement from an emergency nurse who treated the woman was also read to the court.

She said the woman was "very withdrawn" and "not communicating much".

She said the woman was "refusing care" at times, that she said she "didn't deserve it" and that she said "what she did was wrong".

The nurse's statement continued: "She said she wanted to die and her partner physically attacked and hit her.

"She said he took drugs and alcohol, [went] outside and [left] her with the children."

A doctor who treated the woman said she had three small wounds to her neck and 10 to 12 small wounds in her chest area.

Reading from his notes to the court, the doctor said the woman told him she was "annoyed at a family situation".

He said the woman was alert and showed no signs of hallucinations, but was speaking very quietly.

The court was shown body worn camera footage from police officers who attended hospital with the woman.

In statements, the officers said the woman told them: "It's all his fault."

She told police they needed to read what was written in a black book in her home, that it contained "everything you need to know".

The defendant sat with her head in her hands, crying throughout Monday's evidence.

The trial continues.

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