Northern Ireland

Video footage from body-worn cameras on police who attended scene played to jury in baby murder trial

Laganside Court in Belfast
Laganside Court in Belfast Laganside Court in Belfast

VIDEO footage recorded on cameras worn by police officers who attended the scene of a baby's death was played to a jury today.

The heavily pixilated footage was played at Belfast Crown Court, where a 30-year old woman is standing trial for the murder of her eight-week-old son and the attempted murder of her two-year-old daughter.

Just before the videos were played, Judge Donna McColgan KC addressed the jury and warned the six men and six women they may find the recordings "harrowing and difficult".

The footage was recorded at 8.14pm on Tuesday July 27 last year by officers who responded to 999 calls regarding a woman who had threatened to kill her children and herself.

In the footage, the accused - who cannot be named for legal reasons - is sitting on the floor in the living room of her Belfast home in handcuffs while officers tend to her two children.

With blood on her hands and a self-inflicted wound to her neck, she is heard on the video saying "I'm so sorry" repeatedly.

The body-worn cameras captured one officer tending to the fatally wounded baby boy, while his sister is removed from the house by a colleague.

Both children were taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where the baby boy was pronounced dead at 9pm and the young girl was successfully treated for a stab wound.

The footage also showed the accused telling police the location of the knife she used, and her being led from the house and placed in the back of a police vehicle.

As well as video footage, the Crown also played two 999 calls made to police just before officers attended the address.

In the first call made at 7.52pm on July 27, the children's father - who was in England at the time - phoned police in the West Midlands.

During this brief conversation, the 52-year old said he had just received a call from his partner in Belfast and told the call handler "she said she was killing the two kids and herself. She said she loves me and she said she's sorry. I'm in a panic."

A second audio recording of a 999 call made by the accused at 8.11pm to the PSNI was also played.

In the call, she can be heard shouting "I killed my kid" several times while a child cries in the background.

She also told police "in a minute I will kill myself" before she ended the call.

Less then five minutes later, officers arrived at her home and located both her and her two injured children in the living room.

The accused accepts she stabbed the youngsters but has denied the charges of murder and attempted murder.

The jury is being asked to determine what her state of mind was at the relevant time.