Saturday, 31 August 2013

FILICIDE: UK-London: Polly Chowdhury remanded in custody

Mother appears before court over murder of eight-year-old girl found dead in block of flats

Polly Chowdhury remanded in custody in connection with the murder
The 34-year-old appeared at Barkingside Magistrates' Court today
She will appear for another hearing at the Old Bailey on Tuesday
The results of a postmortem into her child's death are still to be released

PUBLISHED: 13:53 GMT, 31 August 2013 | UPDATED: 14:02 GMT, 31 August 2013

A mother has been remanded in custody today after being charged with the murder of her eight-year-old daughter.

Polly Chowdhury, 34, appeared for a short hearing this morning at Barkingside Magistrates' Court in connection with the murder of Ayesha Ali.

Ayesha's body was found at her home in Chadwell Heath, east London, shortly after 11.30am on Thursday.

Investigation: A policeman stands outside the flat in Bedwell Court, East London where an eight-year-old girl died yesterday

Police had been called to the flat in Bedwell Court, Broomfield Road by paramedics, who had been attending an incident there.

Ayesha was declared dead at the scene.

Chowdhury was taken to a hospital in Romford for treatment to minor injuries. She was arrested by police on suspicion of murder after being discharged.

She will appear before a judge at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, court officials said.

Custody: A 34-year-old woman has been arrested after the death of the child

The results of a postmortem examination of her daughter, being carried out by Great Ormond Street Hospital, have yet to be announced.

The death is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police's homicide and major crime command (HMCC), Scotland Yard said.

Tributes have been left at the flat, including a bunch of carnations and roses by a local resident.

A card reads: 'In memory of a little girl whom I would never have met. From a neighbour, rest in peace. Amen.'

Sympathy: A neighbour has left a floral tribute after the tragic discovery of the dead girl

Emergency: Police were called to the scene by the ambulance service at around 11.38am on Thursday

Thursday, 29 August 2013

INFANTICIDE: USA-Pa: more on Amanda Hein

By Stephen Loiaconi

updated 12:03 PM EDT, Thu August 29, 2013

Amanda Hein allegedly wrapped baby in plastic bag, left him in toilet tank
Prosecutors claim Hein returned to table, watched rest of pay-per-view event afterward
Hein is charged with criminal homicide
For more on the case, watch Nancy Grace Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on HLN

Amanda Catherine Hein is being held without bond after prosecutors allege she gave birth to a baby boy in a bar bathroom, killed him and left his body in a toilet tank.

A Pennsylvania woman is being held without bond after she allegedly gave birth to a baby boy in a bar bathroom, killed him and left his body in a toilet tank.
According to prosecutors, 26-year-old Amanda Catherine Hein went with three men to Starters Pub in Lower Saucon Township on August 18 to watch a pay-per-view wrestling event. The following morning, a cleaning crew at the pub allegedly discovered the dead body of a newborn baby wrapped in a plastic bag in a toilet tank in the ladies' bathroom.

Investigators found that one of the booths in the pub had brown staining and liquid on it that's consistent with blood, according to Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli. Police checked the bar’s records and made contact with the person who had reserved the booth for the event that night.
Police then interviewed Luis Rivera, who said he sat in that booth with Hein during the event. Rivera claimed Hein complained about discomfort and spasms that evening before excusing herself to go to the bathroom, Morganelli told reporters Monday.
Rivera told police Hein was gone for “an extended period of time,” then returned to the table and went outside to smoke a cigarette, according to Morganelli.
When Hein came back, Rivera allegedly asked if she was OK, and she said she was but she was in pain. She stayed for about an hour to watch the rest of the event. Rivera noticed that there appeared to be liquid on Hein’s clothes that looked like blood, Morganelli said.

Rivera said he asked Hein multiple times if she needed to go a hospital but she refused, so he dropped her off at home, according to authorities.
A medical examiner performed an autopsy on the baby on August 20 and found that the boy was born alive and viable and had gestated for 33 to 36 weeks. The cause of death was determined to be suffocation.
When Hein was interviewed by police, she allegedly admitted she gave birth in a bathroom stall and left the baby in the toilet tank, court documents stated.
“She placed the child in a plastic bag which she obtained from the garbage can in the stall. She then put the plastic bag containing the child in the water tank for the toilet. Hein advised after she placed the bag and child in the toilet tank, she returned to the dining area until the event was over,” a probable cause affidavit alleged.
Morganelli said Monday that Hein had known she was pregnant for a few months but did not tell anyone. Investigators are still trying to determine whom the child’s father was.
Prosecutors have not yet made a decision on whether to seek the death penalty in the case. Morganelli told reporters he does not know what may have motivated Hein to allegedly kill her child.
“I cannot get inside this lady’s head,” he said. “I have no clue.”
Morganelli described the case as “very upsetting.”
Northhampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek reminded reporters that Pennsylvania has safe haven laws that allow a parent to relinquish a child to the state at any hospital up to 28 days after birth with no questions asked.
“It’s a sad situation,” Morganelli said. “This young lady made a very, very bad choice. Why? I don’t know.”
Court records do not indicate whether Hein has an attorney. Her stepmother told the Morning Call newspaper that she had not even known Hein was pregnant.
Hein appeared in court Monday for a preliminary arraignment on a criminal homicide charge. She was denied bond.

Wednesday, 28 August 2013

INFANTICIDE: Canada: Thi My Phuong Bui charged with murder

The parents of a one-month baby boy were charged Tuesday with second-degree murder after the death of their son.

On August 22, parents brought the infant to local hospital without any vital signs. The initial investigation revealed suspicious circumstances surrounding the baby’s death, which was later determined to be homicide, according to York Regional Police.

Kien Phat Tran, 21, and Thi My Phuong Bui, 22, of Markham have been charged with second-degree murder.

Tuesday, 27 August 2013

INFANTICIDE: USA: Amanda Hein put live newborn in toilet tank

Police arrest mother, 26, for murder after she 'gave birth in bathroom of busy sports bar and dumped live baby in a toilet cistern before coolly returning to watch a wrestling match in blood-stained clothes'

Employees at Starters Pub near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, found a dead baby inside the tank of the toilet in the women's bathroom August 17
Police say Amanda Catherine Hein, 26, of Allentown, admitted to giving birth to a live baby and suffocating it
She said she had known she was pregnant for months and did not tell anyone about pregnancy or going into labor
After allegedly killing her baby, Hein smoked a cigarette and continued watching pay-per-view wrestling for an hour until she went home
She could face the death penalty, if convicted

By MICHAEL ZENNIE

PUBLISHED: 23:09 GMT, 26 August 2013 | UPDATED: 10:33 GMT, 27 August 2013

A woman who gave birth in the bathroom of a busy sports bar then killed her baby and hid it in the toilet was tracked down and arrested after police traced a blood stain the woman left on the booth where she was sitting, it was revealed today.

Amanda Catherine Hein, 26, was at Starters Pub near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, watching pay-per-view wrestling with three friends August 17, when she left and went to the bathroom for about 40 minutes. She returned with blood on her clothes, but insisted she was fine.

Police say Hein went outside and smoked a cigarette, then returned to her friends and continued watching the match.

Scroll down for video

Charged: Amanda Hein, 26, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has been charged with murder after admitting to killing her live newborn son

Horror: This is the toilet where the baby was found wrapped in a trash bag and hidden in the tank

Starts Pub sports bar was crowded with wrestling fans watching a major pay-per-view match when Hein gave birth in the bathroom

The next morning, a janitor who checked on the toilet after complaints that it would not flush, found the child wrapped in a plastic garbage bag, submerged in the tank behind the toilet seat.

Hein was charged with murder Monday and could face the death penalty.

The Lehigh Valley Express-Times reports that an autopsy found that Hein had given birth to a healthy, full-term baby boy. The child suffocated to death.

More...

Hein said she realized she was pregnant in May or June, but did not tell anyone. None of her friends who were with her the night she gave birth knew that she was carrying a child.

They also did not know she had gone into labor on August 17.

That night, Hein and three male friends reserved a booth at Starters bar to watch the
WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view wrestling match.

Police say woman suffocated baby and dumped in pub toilet

Hein said she realized she was pregnant in May or June but never told anyone about it

Hein is charged with murder and could face the death penalty if convicted because of the age of the baby

The grisly find at a popular pub shocked residents of the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania

Her friends told police she was complaining of back pain and spasms during the match. When she excused herself, she was gone for so long that they began to send her text messages.

After she allegedly killed the baby, she stayed at the bar for another hour.

She had blood on her clothing, but refused to go home until the match was over.

After the discovery of the child in the toilet, the waiters at Starters told police they remembered having to clean up blood at one of the booths on August 17.

Managers at the bar were able to look up who reserved the booth - which led detectives to Luis Rivera - one of Hein's friends.

Starters Pub: A fetus was found in the bathroom of the busy restaurant and pub

Rivera led police to Hein.

When she was questioned by officers, she admitted that she had given birth to a live baby and that she had killed him and hid him the toilet after wrapping him in a plastic bag she took from the bathroom garbage can.

Because of the age of the child, Hein could be sentenced to death, if convicted of murder.

Bar owner David Rank said his staff were extremely upset by the grisly incident. He allowed those who wished to go home, others opted to stay and Rank opened the pub to customers at 1pm, two hours later than usual.

'My biggest concern is for my employees, the mother, the baby,' said Rank.

'I just want everyone to say prayers for them.'

Thursday, 22 August 2013

FILICIDE (multiple): Australia: Brisbane mother who starved her twins to death wants her other children back when granted parole

by: Brooke Baskin
From:The Courier-Mail
August 16, 2013 12:00AM

A BRISBANE mother who starved her twin toddlers to death wants to rebuild her family on her release from prison.

The 35-year-old woman from Brisbane's southern suburbs was yesterday sentenced to eight years jail for her children's manslaughter but was granted immediate parole eligibility that could secure her freedom in as little as 180 days.

She sighed and sobbed with relief in the prisoner's dock in court 11 of the Brisbane Supreme Court as Justice Peter Lyons took into account the five years she had already served in custody since her arrest in 2008.

The woman's four surviving children, one of whom was in court for the sentence, are either living with a foster family or are in the care of the Department of Child Safety.

Her barrister Soraya Ryan told the court the twins' mother maintained a good relationship with her children, saw them regularly and spoke to her eldest daughter on the phone daily. She said the mother held concerns for one of her sons who still lived in group accommodation.

"She cannot wait for the day when she can be a mother for him and her other children,'' she said.

Outside court, the twins' grandmother said she was happy with the outcome.

"Now my grandchildren can finally get to see their mother,'' she said.

"It has taken a toll on her mental and physical state and she has owned up to her past in all this and in the long run, she's still my daughter and I still love her.''

The mother was on trial for the twins' murder alongside her de facto partner, 33, but the jury was discharged from returning a verdict when Crown prosecutor Michael Byrne QC indicated he would accept their pleas of guilty to manslaughter this month.

Mr Byrne said the mother's trial was abandoned when he became unable to negate the woman's defence of diminished responsibility.

He summarised that although a killing had taken place with "requisite intent'' it was "partially excused" because of the woman's "substantial impairment of capacities'', which was evidenced by a mental illness.

Justice Lyons found the woman was affected by a major depressive illness or episode at the time the twins' died and had not formed an intention to kill them.

He said her offending was "very serious'' and aggravated by the death of two "vulnerable and helpless'' infants.

Justice Lyons said the mother's offending was a "gross departure'' from the minimum standards expected by the community.

"What you failed to do reduced those infants to a pitiable condition and resulted in their death,'' he said.

Ms Ryan said her client had co-operated with police by answering their questions during interviews with "honesty, remarkable frankness and openness''.

She said it was implausible the mother formed an intention to kill her twins when their father lived in the same house.

"All he had to do was open the door,'' she said.

The infants were almost 18 months old when their decomposing bodies were discovered by their sister together in a cot in their bedroom in 2008.

The court was told the twins had already been dead for at least a week and weighed less than 5kg at the time.

The father, who will be sentenced in September, told the court he had not seen the babies for at least a month before their bodies were found because he was at work, drinking and playing poker.

Saturday, 17 August 2013

FILICIDE: UK: Angela Vane admits strangling and stabbing son

‘I’m in a lot of trouble, I’ve killed my baby’: Mother’s panic after ‘strangling and stabbing her two-year-old son’

Angela Vane, 40, admitted killing son Shaun, two, at family home in Devon
Vane found by passerby on wrong side of safety barrier at bypass
Mother-of-three suffers with paranoid schizophrenia, court told
Appeared at Plymouth Crown Court via video link from psychiatric unit

By KERRY MCDERMOTT

PUBLISHED: 10:49 GMT, 17 August 2013 | UPDATED: 12:06 GMT, 17 August 2013

A mother who admitted strangling her toddler son and stabbing him to death has been detained indefinitely a psychiatric unit.

Angela Vane, 40, who suffers with paranoid schizophrenia, strangled her two-year-old son Shaun O'Neill with a neck tie before fatally stabbing him in the abdomen at the family home in Devon.

A court heard mother-of-three Vane told a passerby who found her standing on a bypass on the morning of Shaun's death: 'I've just killed my baby.'

Shaun O'Neill, two, was stabbed and strangled by his mother, Angela Vane

Angela Vane has been detained indefinitely in a psychiatric unit

'An unimaginably sad case': Shaun O'Neill, two, left, was strangled and stabbed to death by his mother, Angela Vane, 40, who admitted manslaughter at Plymouth Crown Court yesterday

Vane denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at Plymouth Crown Court yesterday.

She was discovered at around 8am on January 19 on the wrong side of a safety barrier on a bypass near her home in Modbury, Devon.

Vane told the man she was going to jump as she had just killed her son. She told him: 'I'm in a lot of trouble, I've just killed my baby.'

The passerby took Vane to the local police station, where she admitted the offence.

Police officers searching the family home discovered Shaun dead on his mother's bed. He was discovered with a neck tie bound tightly around his neck and a stab wound to his abdomen, the court heard.

Medical reports later confirmed he had been killed by ligature strangulation and a stab wound to the abdomen.

Manslaughter: Vane is being detained indefinitely at a psychiatric unit after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Plymouth Crown Court

Vane, who has two children in their 20s from a previous relationship, told police officers she had tried to strangle her little boy.

She said: 'It went on for ages. I thought if I put a knife into him I could feel his heart.'

Vane appeared in court via a video link from Fromeside Clinic in Bristol yesterday.

Sentencing, Judge Graham Cottle described the case as 'unimaginably sad' and said Vane was 'very unwell' at the time of Shaun's death.

He said it was his responsibility to detain Vane under the Mental Health Act due to the risk she posed to both herself and the public.

'This is an unimaginably sad case,' he said.

'It's quite clear that you were clearly very unwell at the time when you took your child's life.

'Nobody has any criticism of you as a mother, in fact the contrary is true. You have two older children whose response to this has been both compassionate and understanding.

'You were clearly unwell. You were suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and the nature of your illness and the degree of it as such requires you to be detailed in hospital. That is the most appropriate disposal of the case.'

Defending Vane, Fiona Elder said prior to the incident there had been no criticism of the mother and that Shaun had been a 'well-cared for child'.

The court heard how Vane, who separated from Shaun's father in 2010, has a history of mental illness.

She was admitted to the Glenbourne mental health unit in Plymouth in 2011 where she spent three weeks being treated for acute psychosis, during which Sean was taken into care.

The police were called to the family home on numerous occasions prior to her being sectioned as Vane suffered with delusions and thought Mr O'Neill was spying on her and shining laser beams on her home, the court was told.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Inspector John Ardron, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said: 'This is a case where there are no winners. It is one of the saddest and most tragic cases I've dealt with in 24 years.'

Thursday, 8 August 2013

INFANTICIDE: Australia: mother thought child was a dwarf

A Sydney woman accused of murdering her baby daughter in a bath tub, after expressing concerns the child was a dwarf, may have been suffering an "abnormality of the mind" at the time, a court has heard.

The woman, who cannot be identified, is accused of murdering the six-month-old girl by leaving her unattended in water in a North Strathfield house in November 2010.

The woman's solicitor, Dennis Miralis, told the NSW Supreme Court on Friday a psychiatrist's assessment found indications of an "abnormality of the mind" and his client made an offer to prosecutors in relation to a charge of infanticide.

Under NSW law, infanticide is when a woman causes the death of her baby through a wilful act or omission while "the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth".

But, the court heard, prosecutors offered her the charge of manslaughter instead of infanticide, which the 38-year-old woman did not accept. Prosecutors then proceeded with a murder charge.

In the NSW Supreme Court, Justice Megan Latham questioned whether the Crown was taking an "extraordinarily hard line" in their case.

The judge then read out the charge of murder and the woman, dressed in black with her hair tied in a neat bun, cried as she stood and quietly said "not guilty".

A committal hearing in December last year heard the woman allegedly left the baby unattended in a foam chair in about 11 centimetres of water.

The hearing at Burwood Local Court heard that, in the months leading up to the girl's death, the mother was worried the baby had dwarfism. But the child was cleared of any condition after a series of tests.

Prosecutors had said the woman was anxious about her child's appearance because she was striving for a "perfect lifestyle", an allegation the woman denied.

Justice Latham set the matter down for trial in February

Saturday, 3 August 2013

FILICIDE (multiple): India: Ashni Khatoon dropped her 3 children down a well

Mother arrested for killing 3 children

Alok K N Mishra, TNN Jul 27, 2013, 04.12AM IST

"The children are aged between five and 10 years," said SP, Koderma Hemant Toppo.

Sources in the village said the woman, Ashni Khatoon, was preparing food for the family when she entered into an argument with her mother-in-law. They fought over whether to buy slippers for the children. After some heated exchange the woman started crying. The woman, her mother-in-law and children were the only people at home. The children went to sleep without dinner that night.

Friday, 2 August 2013

FILICIDE: UK: Magdalena Luczak sentenced to life (30 years minimum)

2 August 2013 Last updated at 09:07 ET

Magdelena Luczak and her partner, Mariusz Krezolek

Magdelena Luczak and Mariusz Krezolek denied murder and blamed each other

The mother of Daniel Pelka and her partner have been jailed for life for the four-year-old's murder.

Magdelena Luczak, 27, and Mariusz Krezolek, 34, must serve a minimum of 30 years each for what the judge called their "incomprehensible brutality".

Luczak and Krezolek blamed each other for killing Daniel who died from a head injury in March 2012.

Daniel, who had also been starved by the pair, weighed just over a stone and a half when he died.

'Campaign of cruelty'

At Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Mrs Justice Cox told Luczak and Krezolek, who lived in Coventry, they had "caused [Daniel] severe physical and mental suffering".

She said Daniel's punishments were "designed to humiliate" and that he was "a victim of chronic and systematic starvation" in a "campaign of cruelty".

Sentencing the pair Mrs Justice Cox said Daniel "must have been absolutely terrified"

Mrs Justice Cox said: "Complicity in ill treatment started with a broken arm when he was just three and a half.

"What was handed out to Daniel was incomprehensible brutality by both of you."

He was also subjected to cold water punishment.

"We will never know exactly what form it took because you have not explained it - he must have been absolutely terrified," Mrs Justice Cox said.

The pair "constructed a careful and wholly untruthful account" that Daniel had a serious eating disorder and learning difficulties, for which he was receiving medical treatment.

"This account was deliberately designed to prevent interference by school, medical and welfare personnel, and to perpetuate the brutality being meted out to him."

The judge said Luczak and Krezolek "instructed and encouraged" Daniel's sibling to tell lies to the authorities if they "were asked any questions about what was happening at home".

'Failings'

The judge said the level of culpability of Luczak and Krezolek was "extremely high" and that there was "minimal mitigation in this case".

Stephen Linnehan, representing Luczak, told the court she had come to "this country in search of a better life" and "has now lost everything".

Court drawing of Mariusz Krezolek and Magdelena Luczak

Krezolek and Luczak killed Daniel after a "campaign of cruelty", the judge said

Krezolek's barrister told the court he did not have the intention to kill and was "deeply ashamed" of his conduct [towards Daniel].

Daniel's death is the subject of a serious case review by Coventry's Safeguarding Children Board and a report is due to be published in the next six weeks.

The review will look at what was done by police and social services after staff at Daniel's school - Coventry Little Heath Primary School - noticed bruising on his neck and what appeared to be two black eyes.

Speaking to BBC News, Amy Weir, the independent chair of the board said: "Clearly there were failings in Daniel's case and the serious case review is looking at why systems that are in place were not used."

Senior crown prosecutor, Lisa Windridge, said: "We hope that the sentence today brings closure to this case to the family of Daniel both in this country and in Poland.

"This has been a very difficult case for all of those involved with it and we are pleased that justice has finally been achieved for Daniel Pelka."