Mum stabs her newborn daughter to death with scissors, while her boyfriend played XBox
Jun 8, 2017 3:00 PM
A MUM stabbed her baby to death with a pair of scissors seconds after she was born then dumped her body in the bin while her boyfriend played X-box in the next room, a court heard.
Rachel Julie Tunstill allegedly stabbed tiny Mia Kelly 15 times in the bathroom of the home she shared with Ryan Kelly.
She is then said to have stuffed the newborn’s lifeless body in the kitchen bin as Ryan sat playing X-box next door oblivious to the killing.
After cops seized her iPad and mobile, they discovered internet searches including “bringing about abortion”, and results about a man who had been arrested for the murder his own children.
Jurors at Preston Crown Court heard how Tunstill, who has a masters degree in forensic psychology, told her partner she’d suffered a miscarriage after she went into labour on the toilet on January 14.
She even allegedly asked her boyfriend for the scissors she used to fatally stab the tot, the court was told.
Prosecutor Louise Blackwell explained how Tunstill, who sobbed in the dock, had told Ryan she suffered a miscarriage in March last year before falling pregnant again in December when herbal tea interfered with the morning after pill.
But she claimed she’d had another miscarriage – telling her boyfriend it was “happening again” when she went into labour on January 14.
Jurors heard how Tunstill gave birth to baby Mia on the toilet of her home in Burnley, Lancs, before later telling cops she had not flushed baby Mia “as she had done with her previous miscarriage”.
The prosecutor said she also told police the baby had a small cut to the back of its neck but offered no explanation as to how it got there.
The jury heard the defendant never attempted to revive the baby, claiming she didn’t know how – but work records show she had a successfully passed a first aid course in adult and child resuscitation.
Giving evidence, Ryan described how Tunstill made little noise during the three hours she was in the bathroom, but for around 20 minutes he heard an unfamiliar high-pitched sound “which was like water being squeezed out of a plastic bottle”.
The court heard once baby Mia was dead, Tunstill wrapped her body in two plastic bags, walked past her boyfriend and placed the body in the bin.
Authorities were only made aware of the death two days later when Tunstill went to hospital claiming she felt an abnormality while showering and feared the miscarriage wasn’t complete.
The jury was told examinations showed the abnormal growth was the umbilical chord still attached to the placenta.
Mrs Blackwell said: “Tunstill told nurses that she had passed a baby and it had not been breathing.
“The chord had snapped and she had picked up the baby.
“It had turned blue and she couldn’t find a pulse. She placed the baby on the floor, while she sorted herself out. Then she bagged up the baby and placed it in the bin.”
Tunstill told nurses that she had only been pregnant for around five weeks but more intrusive examinations suggested she had been pregnant for longer.
Mrs Blackwell said it is the prosecution’s case that she had been pregnant for between 36 and 37 weeks.
The jury was told police went to the hospital and the defendant allegedly told officers that Mr Kelly had put baby Mia in an outside bin.
Defending, Simon Kealey said: “There is no dispute that the baby was born alive and that the baby died as a result of a number of stab wounds. But the precise process by which that occurred the defendant has no recollection of.”
Tunstill denies murder and the hearing continues.
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