Girl (8) found bleeding and 'gasping for breath' after alleged knife attack by mother, trial hears

David Raleigh

A garda told a court on Wednesday how he found an eight-year-old girl bleeding and “gasping for breath” after her mother allegedly attacked her with a large knife.

The garda told how he and a colleague forced their way into a room at a temporary accommodation centre in County Clare, where he found the mother and daughter in an adjoining bathroom.

The garda said a bed in the room was covered in blood, and there were blood marks on a wall leading to the en suite.

The girl’s mother, who cannot be named to protect her daughter’s identity, has pleaded “not guilty” at her trial at the Central Criminal Court, Limerick, to one count of attempted murder on September 27th, 2022.

The accused, her husband and daughter had been residing in the mid west accommodation premises after fleeing Ukraine in March 2022 after Russian military troops invaded the country.

The garda witness said he found the girl lying in a shower tray in blood soaked underwear next to a discarded steak knife after she had sustained multiple stab wounds.

The garda said the girl’s mother was sitting on the floor of the bathroom, and was largely unresponsive to his instructions and she was staring at her daughter.

The garda agreed with prosecuting barrister, senior counsel Lorcan Connolly that, the girl’s blood was “flowing into the shower drain”, and “her skin had turned a pale white/blue colour”.

The garda agreed that he had said in his statement about the events that the girl was “gasping for breath”.

The garda said he told his colleague to call for an ambulance, arrested the accused at the scene, and then did his best to make the girl comfortable.

He said he knelt beside the girl and lifted her head gently onto his knee to try to keep her airwaves open.

He said he noticed “a mark on her neck” and a phone charing cable in her hair.

It was heard earlier in the trial which began last Monday that the cable may have been used by the accused as a ligature on the girl’s neck.

The garda said the girl told him her name, “and her eyes were closing”.

The garda said he kept speaking to the girl and trying to reassure her that she was okay. He said he wrapped the girl in towels and applied pressure to her most severe wounds to try to stem the blood flow.

“I tried to keep her talking,” the garda said.

The garda assisted paramedics at the scene and followed them and the girl in an ambulance to University Hospital Limerick (UHL). He later accompanied the girl in an ambulance when she was transferred to Crumlin Children’s Hospital, Dublin.

The court heard medical evidence that the girl would have certainly died if doctors at UHL had not drained blood from a sack around the girl’s heart after they discovered it had leaked into the area and was putting pressure on her lungs and heart.

The court heard the girl suffered a total of 79 stab wounds and was transferred to Crumlin Hospital, for “open-heart surgery” as well as general surgery to repair knife wounds to her chest, back and arms.

Staff at UHL who were involved in the girl’s care were offered psychological counseling due to the “traumatic” nature of her injuries, it was heard.

Despite her “life-threatening” injuries, the girl survived and spoke to investigating gardaí two months afterwards.

The court was shown a DVD recording of the girl’s interview with gardaí in which she told them her mother had stood over her in her bed on the morning in question, and told her: “I’m going to kill you and then I’m going to kill myself, because that is what’s best.”

The girl said her mother used a “big kitchen knife” stabbing her in her bed. She said her mother “dragged” her into the adjoining en suite bathroom and continued stabbing her in her stomach, chest, back and legs.

“When she was dragging me to the bathroom, I looked back and the bed was covered in blood,” the girl told gardaí.

The girl - who was not cross examined by the accused’s defence barrister - said her mother told her that she had feared people were going to take her away from her and that it was “best” if they both died.

When entering her “not guilty” plea in court, the accused also added: “I was out of my mind at that time.”

A resident at the temporary accommodation centre, gave evidence they heard the girl’s screams coming from the family’s room on the morning in question and they had tried to open the door to the room but it was locked and they phoned the emergency services.

Under cross examination by the accused’s barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, the witness agreed that prior to the alleged attack, the accused confided in her that she was concerned about her mental state, and that of her husband, who the court heard was suffering from mental health issues at the time.

The witness said the accused told her she wanted to travel back to Ukraine to get psychiatric help.

The witness said the accused had previously made two failed attempts to return to Ukraine and had returned each time to the temporary accommodation.

The trial continues before a jury of seven men and five women and Judge Kerida Naidoo.