'She was going to kill me': Child, 8, gives evidence of alleged stabbing by mother

Reader discretion is advised due to the distressing nature of the story. 

A MOTHER wept and wailed as she listened to her daughter, aged eight, begin to recall being attacked by her with “a big kitchen knife”, which left her with a huge scar.

“If you can imagine a big kitchen knife being used to hit a small person’s body” said the child, whose mother has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of the girl at a location in the Mid-West.

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A DVD recording of an interview between the child - who was eight at the time - and two gardaí conducted at a garda station was played for the jury at the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Limerick this Tuesday.

When the video first was played before the court, the mother of the child wept and wailed. 

Neither parties involved in the case can be named to protect the identity of the child. 

The girl - who is now 11 - gave her testimony in Russian to an interpreter regarding her version of what happened on the night she was allegedly stabbed over 70 times in temporary accommodation in the Mid-West in 2022. 

The young girl said she was hit by “our regular kitchen knife, big and sharp and pointy”. 

She detailed to the garda that when she awoke from her bed “she was standing over me with a knife and she started hitting me.”

The child continued: “I remember clearly when she dragged me into the bathroom, and looking back [at the bed] it was just blood.”

The girl said that in the bathroom her mother told her: “She was going to kill me, she was going to kill herself, as that was what was best.”

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The child said that the neighbour then knocked on the door. She thought that they could hear her “screams”. 

The child said the mother further hit her with the knife in the bathroom, and eventually stopped. Then she began “talking to me in a really tired and sad voice.” 

The girl said: “I thought she was really upset with me”. 

The court heard the girl outline that her mother said she was afraid someone would take the child away. 

The girl said the door was kicked in and that the ambulance personnel treated her. 

When asked the specifics of the time and date, the girl said: “I think it was the day we go swimming at school, which is my favourite day”. 

“It was just a regular evening. Normally I say I love you to my mom and we said our prayers.”

The girl was asked about her injuries, and replied that she “can’t remember the pain”, and that “everything is mostly back to normal, except when I run.”

The Garda further inquired about the blood from the wounds. The child responded: “I think most of the blood came from my back, my chest and my stomach. I have a huge scar. They told me it would take two to three years to heal.”

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Towards the end of the interview, the child expressed her desire to see her friend and her cat again. 

The trial is sitting again this Tuesday afternoon, and the evidence of the child’s former neighbours is to be given. The trial is expected to sit for five or six more days. 

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.