Quote:
A mother drowned her daughter in the bath because she felt unable to accept her child's disability, a court heard.
Joanne Hill, 32, from Connah's Quay, Flintshire, arrived at hospital with the body of Naomi, four, at least eight hours after she had died.
Naomi had a mild form of cerebral palsy which affected her mobility.
She denies murder. The prosecution at Chester Crown Court said her defence would argue she was guilty of manslaughter but not murder.
The court heard that on 26 November last year, Ms Hill picked Naomi up from a childminder.
The jury was told some time before 1900 GMT that evening she drowned her in the family bathroom But it was not until eight hours later that the mother arrived at the Countess of Chester Hospital with the body of Naomi, asking for help.
She wanted to have Naomi adopted but her husband Simon would not allow it so she planned the murder, it was alleged.
Ms Hill, who sold advertising space for a publishing company, killed her daughter at the family home, the court heard.
After drowning her she dressed Naomi - who wore callipers and struggled to hear - and drove around for eight hours before carrying her body into the accident and emergency unit, said prosecutor Michael Chambers QC.
He told the jury of seven men and five women that Ms Hill - who had cheated on her husband days before the death - would tell Naomi off for soiling her pants during bouts of constipation.
'Determined plan'
He said: "The prosecution say she couldn't come to terms with the fact that Naomi was disabled, suffering from a mild form of cerebral palsy affecting her ability to walk.
"The defendant couldn't cope with caring for Naomi and left a lot of the everyday care to her husband Simon - she even suggested to him that Naomi should be adopted.
"But he would never agree to that because he doted on her.
"Instead of seeking help from the social services she quite deliberately and consciously acted to kill Naomi.
"It was a determined plan.
"The prosecution say she wasn't suffering from depressive mental illness at the time.
"Extreme behaviour such as this doesn't automatically mean mental illness was the cause."
Mr Chambers added: "She quite simply wanted Naomi dead.
"We are reliant upon her for an explanation. She may not have given a full and truthful account to the police in nterview.
"It is unclear whether she believed Naomi would be better off dead or if her motive was more selfish."
'Normal conversations'
The court was told that Naomi Hill was killed at the family home
Mr Chambers said on the Monday Hill killed Naomi she was rational and entirely normal at work.
After leaving work in Chester she drove to collect her daughter from the childminder and visited shops, having normal conversations.
But he said Hill told police in a subsequent interview that during the day she was already considering killing her daughter.
He said: "She told police from that Monday she had thoughts of killing Naomi and also had suicidal thoughts," and considered both killings while driving to work.
Describing the killing, Mr Chambers said: "The defendant went upstairs to run the bath and came down for a glass of wine.
"When the bath was full she told Naomi she was having a bath, but Naomi didn't want one.
"The defendant carried her upstairs and undressed her.
"The defendant put her in the bath and drowned her by holding her head under the water for a long time until she was dead.
"She wanted to leave the house before Simon returned."
The case is expected to last two weeks.
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Source - BBC News
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This is one of the main headlines on tonights BBC news. It happened in Connah's Quay, which is just down the road from me
She then drove to Queensferry, then Mold, then went to Chester hospital 8 hours later and said I think my daughter is dead.
Its terrible x
23-09-2008, 06:36 PM
Mum \'drowned disabled daughter\'
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