A.y. V. M.m.
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judge | Sheriff R.A. Davidson |
| Court | Sheriff Court |
| Docket Number | A81/90 |
| Date | 03 August 2012 |
| Published date | 26 September 2012 |
SHERIFFDOM OF TAYSIDE, CENTRAL AND FIFE AT DUNDEE
| Case No: A81/90 JUDGMENT of SHERIFF RICHARD A DAVIDSON In the cause A Y Pursuer; against M M Defender: __________ |
Act: Sharpe, advocate: Messrs RSB Macdonald, Solicitors, Dundee
Alt : Mrs. Ennis, advocate : Messrs. Lawson, Coull & Duncan, Solicitors, Dundee
Party Minuter: Jack, advocate, for W. Warden, Solicitor, Dundee, Curator-ad-litem to K M Y, born 28th. December, 2008.
Dundee, 3rd. August, 2012. The sheriff, having resumed consideration of the cause, finds the following facts admitted or proved:-
[1] The pursuer is A Y, aged 19, who resides at............... Dundee, and who is a student.
[2] The defender is M M, aged 19, who resides at ............. Dundee, who is a part-time shop assistant.
[3] The curator ad litem is William Warden, Solicitor, Dundee, who was appointed by the court to act in that capacity on 1 July, 2009 and who lodged a minute to allow him to enter the process as a party minuter on 7 March, 2011, the child whose interests he was appointed to safeguard being K M Y born 28 December, 2008.
[4] The pursuer and the defender are respectively the father and mother of the child, K M Y, conform to her birth certificate no. 5/1/1 of process, the birth being registered in Dundee on 6 January, 2009 with the registration being completed by both the pursuer and the defender, both of whom have signed the Register.
[5] The pursuer resides at the above address with his mother, stepfather, brother and his son, sister and his daughter, K. K has been resident in this household from 16. January 2009, without interruption. She is settled there and has a good routine. The house has four bedrooms and so there is ample accommodation. The pursuer's mother was formerly a registered childminder and she has assisted the pursuer in his care of his daughter and will continue to do so, but she has recently been diagnosed as suffering from breast cancer. The pursuer was used to there being young children in his house and was competent in dealing with all matters relating to the personal care of K.
[6] The pursuer was born and brought up in Dundee and had attended local primary and secondary schools and was now undertaking a Sports Coaching course at Dundee College. He remains in contact with his natural father.
[7] The defender was born in London and had moved to Dundee with her mother in about 2003 following the breakdown of the relationship between her mother and father who never resided together. She presently resides with her mother at the address hereinbefore specified and K stays with her at that address during present periods of residential contact. The flat is entirely suitable for that purpose and has ample accommodation. Her mother had had a physical relationship with a man called D H, who resides in Dundee. He remained a close friend of the family, though the physical relationship had ended, and K referred to him as "granddad," irrespective of the lack of any biological or affinitous connection.
[8] The defender is dependent upon her mother for the provision of accommodation and financial support. She works part-time, about 12 hours a week, and otherwise is at college or, at any rate, says that she wants to be at college, attempting to take Highers. Her stated intent is to get on to a nursing or midwifery course but beyond stating that as an intent, she was vague as to how this was to be achieved. Her mother worked full time as a support worker and carer working in a residential care home with persons with enduring mental health difficulty. Her shift pattern was variable and involved her being at work overnight about once a week. Her natural father continued to reside in London where he worked for the Citizens Advice Bureau.
[9] The defender had engaged in self-harming by cutting her wrists on at least an annual basis since she was aged 11, substantially coincident with the breakdown of her parents' relationship and her removal from London to Dundee. 6/3/31 of process was a letter from Brian McCulloch, a nurse specialist with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Dundee, to the defender's general practitioner recording two episodes of self harm by the defender by cutting her wrist in response to the breakdown of a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Production 6/3/33 was an earlier letter by the same author dated 14 August, 2006, which recorded the defender stating that she started to cut her wrists about "three years earlier" when she would have been 11, and that in February, 2006, she had taken an overdose of 7 Ibuprofen tablets about which she had not previously told anyone. She expressed surprise at his exploration of these matters, being of the view that she had come to see him about her concerns about her body image, in particular what she considered to be her excessively large breasts, which she claimed were stared at by "old men," causing her distress. He further recorded that she made herself sick after meals, which would be a symptom of bulimia. The nurse considered that her estrangement from her father, her move from London to Dundee and the onset of puberty had combined to generate a state of anxiety of which the previously noted symptoms were illustrative. She attended upon him for about four sessions at the conclusion of which she was considered to have improved significantly.
[10] The defender was 14 at the time of these consultations. Generally, she had used an ordinary cutlery knife for cutting but had, on one occasion, used a razor.
[11] The pursuer and the defender had a relationship which was sexual in its nature over a period of between 18 and 24 months, ending about a month prior to the birth of K.
[12] Both parties were 15 at the time of conception.
[13] Neither the pursuer nor the defender attended at all ante natal classes. The defender did however attend at one such class, conducted by a midwife, at which advice was given about the avoidance of cot death by minimising the risk of asphyxiation by always laying a baby on its back.
[14] About six months into the pregnancy, the defender harmed herself by cutting her wrist.
[15] About eight months into the pregnancy, the defender terminated her relationship with the pursuer.
[16] A midwife, Suzanne Robertson, who had seen the defender at some point during her pregnancy had noted that the defender had a history of self-harming, noted this as a possible indicator of a predisposition to post natal depression and e-mailed the defender's general practitioner to flag that up as a marker for a check for post natal depression at the time of the child's birth. That information was not passed on by the general practitioner to the health visitor based at the practice.
[17] K was born on 28 December, 2008 at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, without complications. The pursuer was present at the birth. She was discharged home with the defender to the defender's mother's flat. After about a week, the defender's mother found the defender crying and stating that she was unable to cope with the child. The pursuer had been attending at said flat and lending such assistance as he could. He had also offered to take the child to his home to give the defender a rest but this offer was declined initially by the defender's mother. The defender was attempting, ultimately without success, to breast feed the baby. Unfortunately, she developed mastitis.
[18] On 15 January, 2009, and despite having concerns about the defender's state of mind, which had apparently gone unnoticed by the health visitor, the defender's mother went to work. With the benefit of hindsight, she considered that the way the defender had told her that she loved her as she was leaving for work was unusual. Despite these concerns, she left her mobile telephone in a different room where she could not hear it ringing when she was at work.
[19] The defender's sleep had been interrupted the previous night and she was feeling tired and isolated. K would not stop crying. She continued to cry after the defender's mother left for work. She tried to feed her and she changed her but the baby continued to cry. She then put the cot duvet cover over her face in an attempt to smother her. The baby continued to cry. She removed the duvet cover, took the child downstairs, placed her in a baby bouncing chair, and then took an overdose comprising eight paracetamol, eight co-codamol, sixty flucloxacillin, one hundred Calms (a patent medication designed to provide relief from menstrual pain) and twenty five anti-histamine tablets. She then wrote four suicide notes, one to the pursuer, one to her mother, one to the baby and one jointly to the pursuer and her mother, turned out the lights and sat looking at photographs waiting to die. She also sent texts to her mother and to the pursuer and the pursuer's mother to the effect that "K needs you. Come and get her."
[20] The pursuer who had been at college became aware of these texts and spoke to his mother who told him to go to the defender's flat immediately which he did. The defender allowed him in. The defender was then standing up albeit unsteadily, but immediately went to a couch, lay down and appeared to lapse into a coma. He observed packets of drugs on the living room table some of the contents of which were missing. He assumed that the defender had taken them and dialled 999 calling an ambulance which attended promptly.
[21] The defender was taken by ambulance to the Accident and Emergency Department at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, accompanied by the pursuer and the baby. The pursuer telephoned the defender's mother from the ambulance and she left her work and made her way directly to the hospital. Mr. Brodie Paterson, an A & E Consultant of some six years standing at the time, was in charge of the unit when the defender arrived there. The defender was admitted between 17.30 and 18.00 hours. She was diagnosed as a self-poisoning. He noted that she was believed to have...
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