Mum 'decided to kill' children hours before stabbing them in Belfast home

A jury heard that a woman 'decided to kill' her children just hours before she stabbed the youngsters in their Belfast home.

The accused spent the third day in the witness box at Belfast Crown Court, where she was questioned about events leading to the knife attack. She is currently standing trial on charges of murdering her eight-week old son and attempting to murder her two-year old daughter. The 30-year old, who can't be named for legal reasons, has accepted she knifed the siblings on the evening of Tuesday July 27, 2021 - but has denied the charges.

As her cross-examination continued on the 12th day of the hearing, she was asked about diary entries she made which detailed wanting to take her own life and those of her son and daughter. When she was asked about the diary entries by Crown barrister Richard Weir KC, the accused said she wrote them on the afternoon of July 27, 2021. One entry she wrote: 'I choose to take our lives for everything you did to us', which she said was in reference to her partner. She was then asked by Mr Weir "when did you decide you were going to kill your children?" - and after she began crying she said "the afternoon it happened ... it was in my mind." When asked whey she did it, the accused repeated claims she has already made and told the court and jury "in my mind this was the only solution." Mr Weir also questioned the accused about 'inconsistencies' in the notes regarding her partner. The prosecutor pointed that whilst she seemed to blame her partner for her actions that day - and his since accused him of physically and sexually assaulting during the relationship - she also wrote in the dairy that she loved him and would love him beyond the grave. When asked about this, she replied: "I loved him until that day, the day of the incident" and said up to that point she had strived to keep the family together as she wanted her children to grow up with both their mother and their father. The accused is due to return to the witness box for a fourth day on Thursday when she will be cross-examined about the knife attack on both her children which claimed the life of her baby son. The trial continues.

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