Mother goes on trial for murdering her child

A MOTHER went on trial yesterday accused of murdering her baby son, concealing his body and pretending that he was still alive to prevent police investigating his death.

Kimberley Hainey, 37, from Johnstone, Renfrewshire, is charged with assaulting, wilfully ill-treating and neglecting her son Declan Hainey over a 19-month period between 1 September, 2008, and 30 March last year at 45 Bruce Road, Paisley.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Hainey’s defence QC, Edward Targowski, pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.

The Crown has charged Hainey with either murdering her son or of neglecting him by failing to provide medical care for him whereby his physical and psychological development were impaired.

It is alleged that she left her son alone and unattended in the house for excessive periods of time, left him in wet and soiled nappies for excessive periods of time, caused him to be exposed to heroin and amphetamine, caused him to ingest these drugs and failed to provide medical aid and care for him.

Yesterday, a joint minute of agreement between the Crown and defence was read to the jury.

Crown junior Lorna Maclean told them: “A post-mortem examination of Declan Heaney was carried out at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow on 1 April, 2010. The cause of death was given as ‘unascertained’.”

The jury was also told that the body of Declan, who was born at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, on 17 April, 2008, was found in his cot on 30 March, 2010.

Hainey is also charged with failing to inform the police or other authorities of Declan’s death, concealing his body in the house and preventing people from entering the house.

The trial before judge Lord Woolman continues.