Police claim mother stabbed daughter

Press, 23 January 1988, Page 14

Police claim mother stabbed daughter

PA Auckland A woman stabbed her three-year-old daughter 36 times with a bread knife after trying to strangle and suffocate her, the police alleged this week.

The Ponsonby woman, aged 23, whose name has been suppressed, was appearing in the District Court at Auckland for a depositions hearing on charges of attempting to murder her daughter on November 25 and causing grievous bodily harm to the child on the same day. Sergeant Mike Meyrick told the Court the prosecution alleged that at 3.10 p.m. on November 25 the woman, who had been living apart from her husband, became annoyed with the child and placed

a belt around her neck. The woman then tried to strangle and smother the child.

Sergeant Meyrick said the mother then held down the child and stabbed her with a bread knife, inflicting 36 wounds.

Many of the injuries could be described as cuts, he said, but one wound penetrated the child’s stomach. The woman then wrapped her daughter in towels to stop the bleeding.

At Auckland Hospital the child underwent two hours of surgery and required blood transfusions, Sergeant Meyrick said. She had since been released from hospital.

When questioned by the police, the woman said she did not like her daughter and wanted to kill her.

Defence counsel, Mr Frank Hogan, conceded a prima facie case had been established against his client.

She entered a not guilty plea to both charges and was committed to the High Court at Auckland for a trial date to be set on March 3. The woman was ordered to be held in custody.