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Grandmother tells of heartache at daughter's baby struggle

Maidstone Crown Court
Maidstone Crown Court

by Keith Hunt

A grandmother has told of her dilemma about whether to report her teenage daughter to the police after she confessed to putting a pillow over her baby's face.

She said she had told her daughter, 18, she had to take more responsibility with her five-week-old child after it was brought home from hospital.

"She said she couldn't bond," she continued. "She was fed up because she couldn't go out much."

She added she did not want the baby and it would do better without her.

"I said she needs to take more responsibility and not rely on us so much. I didn't have a problem with her going out as long as she didn't take the Mick," said the grandmother.

"She started crying. She was saying sorry. She then said she placed a pillow over the baby's face. That wasn't the answer I was expecting.

"I burst into tears and had to get out of the room."

She went upstairs and woke her partner to tell him what her daughter had said.

"He could see I was in a right state," she said. "I went back downstairs. She was nowhere to be seen.

"She left a note on the kitchen table. It said: 'I am sorry mum. You all are much better off without me.'

"It was going through my mind of the decision to have to report it to the police. It was a difficult consideration."

She said she did go to the police for the "safety" of both her daughter and the baby.

The teenager, from Sevenoaks, denies attempted murder.

Maidstone Crown Court has heard the teenage mum was suffering from post-natal depression when she allegedly tried to kill her baby by smothering it as it lay in a cot.

The child has since made a full recovery with no lasting effects.

The trial continues.

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