Barbie Kardashian found guilty of threatening to kill her mother

The jury acquitted Ms Kardashian of threatening to kill or cause serious harm to Michael Mannix, a social care worker

The jury at Limerick Circuit Court returned unanimous guilty verdicts on three of the seven counts, and majority verdicts on the remaining four counts. File photo: Dan Linehan

WARNING: Some readers may find this report upsetting

A jury has found Barbie Kardashian guilty of seven counts of threatening to kill or cause serious harm to her mother following her trial at Limerick Circuit Court.

The jury of six women and six men returned unanimous guilty verdicts on Monday in respect of three of the seven counts, and it returned majority verdicts in the remaining four counts, in respect of the accused’s mother.

Ms Kardashian, 20, who has legally changed her gender and name, had pleaded not guilty to all seven counts that she made threats to kill her mother at Coovagh House, Limerick, on dates in 2020.

The jury returned unanimous not guilty verdicts in respect of other counts, that Ms Kardashian had threatened to kill or cause serious harm to Michael Mannix, a social care worker, at Coovagh House, Limerick, on dates between 2019 and 2020.

The jury, which retired last Friday and had been sent home for the weekend, returned their verdicts this lunchtime, after deliberation on the 11 counts for over four hours.

The four-day trial heard Ms Kardashian had been diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder and that she would say shocking things to gain attention, and that she made the alleged threats while she was a resident at Coovagh House, a secure unit for children aged between 11 and 17 with serious behavioural difficulties.

Her residency at the unit had been extended beyond her 18th birthday by a High Court order, it was heard. The jury was told the accused had changed her birth name and birth cert.

Threats

All of the alleged threats were made while Kardashian was, by order of the High Court, residing at Coovagh House, one of three secure units in the State for children aged 11-17 with serious behavioural problems.

Kardashian’s barrister, Mark Nicholas SC, accepted she told staff at Coovagh House, during a meeting to plan her release into the community as she had turned 18, that she planned to travel to her mother’s house, overpower her, and torture her with a knife, a screwdriver, and boiling water.” 

Mr Nicholas accepted that Kardashian told staff: “If I got into (my mother’s) house I would run towards her and put the knife into her body and into her genitalia...prolong my mum’s suffering for as long as possible...I would stab her, but not in her heart or neck, I’d want to put her through lots of torture, fear and humiliation. 

“I would bring a screwdriver to insert inside her genitalia because I am a woman and women rape using objects. I know that my mum is smaller than me, she is physically weak and she is frail, when I was living with her since I was nine or 10 I was stronger than her then and I know she would be overpowered by me.” 

Kardashian added that she only planned to exit her mother’s house once she had been satisfied she had left her mother to “bleed out”, by taking her pulse to ensure she was dead.

'Shock behaviour'

In his closing speech last Friday, Mr Nicholas argued Kardashian’s alleged plan was “fantasy” and that her social care workers did not immediately alert gardaí about the alleged threats.

He said some witnesses who had been involved in his client’s care, including Mr Mannix, agreed under cross-examination that Ms Kardashian had been diagnosed with “narcissistic personality disorder” and that she would engage in “shock behaviour” in order “to get attention” and they were aware she had suffered alleged abuse as a child.

Mr Nicholas said his client had experienced a “horrible” life, and she had been in State care since she was 10 years old.

The defence barrister told the jury Kardashian had been “invited into a safe and non-judgmental” environment at Coovagh House and encouraged to share her emotions, “but this promised safe place offered to a vulnerable, damaged kid, turns out to be ‘the dock’”.

He reiterated there had been an “absence of alarm” in Coovagh about Kardashians’ alleged threats, until, he said, it was time for her to be released into the community, almost two years after she made the first alleged threat to kill Mr Mannix, in January 2019.

'Very unusual case'

There are a total of 15 beds in three secure units in the state, including Coovagh House, for children who are a risk of being a danger to themselves or others, the trial heard.

Judge Tom O’Donnell said it was a “very, very unusual case” and he said he had “concerns” Kardashian might, at some point, “be left to their own devices” after her sentence is served.

“I’d like the benefit of a probation report to give the court some insight into what the long-term situation might be for this young lady, I would like to see if the probation service would have any guidance for the court,” said Judge O’Donnell.

Mr Nicholas agreed and reiterated Kardashian had “been in care since she was 10, with little worldly experience”. The judge ordered a psychological assessment on Kardashian and a probation report and remanded the accused in custody for sentence on July 28 next.