Mother weeps as she faces trial for murder of son, 2

A Dublin woman accused of the murder of her two-year-old son has been returned for trial to the Central Criminal Court.

Hazel Waters, 46, of Ridge Hall, Ballybrack, was served with a book of evidence by Det Sergeant Joe O’Hara when she appeared at Dublin District Court yesterday.

Dressed in a dark buttoned-up jacket, black trousers and a pink headscarf, she wept as Judge Michael Walsh was told the Director of Public Prosecutions has consented to her being returned for trial to the Central Criminal Court.

Holding a handkerchief, she stood up and wiped her eyes as Judge Walsh asked: “Ms Waters, can I have your attention please?”

“This matter is going forward to the next sitting of the Central Criminal Court, you will be advised in due course of the date,” he then told her.

He also gave her the standard warning that if she intended to rely on an alibi in her defence, the details must be furnished to the prosecution within 14 days.

She has not yet indicated how she will plead and her case will be listed during next sittings of the Central Criminal Court which runs from April 13 until May 21.

She remained silent when asked by Judge Walsh if she understood and her solicitor Padraig O’Donovan said that he would explain it to her.

The judge granted legal aid for her trial and directed that copies of video evidence be handed over to the defence. Ms Waters was further remanded in custody; due to the nature of the case she will have to make a bail application in the High Court.

Ms Waters had been charged after toddler Muhammad Hassan Khan was found dead with stab wounds in the bedroom of their apartment at about 2pm on October 16.

She is accused of murdering her son at a time between October 15 and 16.

At an earlier stage in the proceedings, the court had heard Ms Waters made no reply when she was charged with the murder of her son.

Ms Waters was originally remanded to the Dóchas Centre, the women’s unit in Mountjoy Prison, but was later transferred to the Central Mental Hospital.

At her first hearing on October 18, the court had heard her only income was a lone parent’s allowance.

Last month an inquest into the death of her son heard the toddler died as a result of multiple penetrating wounds to his neck. Dublin Coroner’s Court has adjourned the inquest indefinitely pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings.

Hassan’s acupuncturist father Mohammed Saleem Khan, 61, identified the body of his son for gardaí at Tallaght Hospital on the evening of October 17. He laid their son, who was aged two years and nine months, to rest following a burial ceremony on October 20 last.

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