Bereaved mum injected baby girl

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A bereaved mother injected a friend's baby girl with an overdose of insulin because she was jealous of her healthy daughter, a court has heard.

Off-duty nurse Veronica Duncan, who lost her own daughter months before, left the child close to death.

Duncan, 41, a patient at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, admitted assaulting the baby to the danger of her life in the Borders on 7 March this year.

Sentence was deferred for reports at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Duncan was originally charged with attempting to murder the four-month old girl.

This is as highly exceptional and in some ways tragic a case as one might encounter in these courts Andrew MurphyDefence counsel

However, a guilty plea to a reduced charge of assaulting the child to the danger of her life was accepted.

Advocate depute Alastair Brown said Duncan was a registered general nurse who worked at the intensive care department at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where she had access to insulin.

In May last year her own 16-month-old daughter Anna had died at their home in the Scottish Borders.

"Any mother suffering such a loss would be distraught," he said.

The prosecutor said the Crown accepted that Duncan was not functioning normally at the time of the offence, but she was criminally responsible for her actions.

On the day of the attack Duncan had called at the child's family home and invited her mother to go to a coffee morning.

The child was treated at Borders General Hospital

She offered to dress the baby while the mother got changed to go out.

Dr Brown said: "It appears that it was at this point that Duncan injected her with insulin."

The woman later realised something was wrong with her child and an ambulance was called to take her to Borders General Hospital.

It was initially suspected that she had a viral infection, but a blood sugar test was also carried out which came back with a very low reading.

Attempts were made to ventilate the baby. She was given dextrose and began to breathe on her own and wake up.

Over the next few days a clinical chemist was able to identify that the child had been given a massive overdose of insulin.

Child protection measures were put in place and a police investigation was launched.

Mental disorder

On 19 March Duncan's home was searched and a box containing a syringe and insulin was found wrapped in scarves.

She later admitted she had taken a syringe to the child's family home and injected the baby in the stomach.

Defence counsel Andrew Murphy said psychiatrists had found Duncan was suffering from a mental disorder which fell short of mental illness.

"This is as highly exceptional and in some ways tragic a case as one might encounter in these courts," he said.

"She is abjectly apologetic to the family for the concerns and pains she has caused them and the sense of betrayal they may feel.

"All she can say is she was not herself at the time."