A 30-year-old woman has been handed a life sentence after she was found guilty of murdering her baby son and attempting to murder her daughter.
Following a trial which has spanned over two months at Belfast Crown Court and after deliberating for five-and-a-half hours, the jury returned guilty verdicts on the two charges.
The forewoman of the jury broke down in tears as she was asked to give the verdicts - and once they were delivered, the defendant sobbed in the dock and repeatedly said "no".
She stabbed her children in their Belfast home on the evening of Tuesday 27 July, 2021 - and whilst her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter survived the attack, her eight-week-old son died.
Despite denying the charges the defendant - who cannot be named due to a reporting restriction - was found guilty by a majority verdict of ten-to-one on the charge of murdering her son and unanimously convicted of attempting to murder her daughter.
After the verdicts were delivered, Judge Donna McColgan KC said: "The defendant has now been found guilty of murder so the court must now impose a life sentence. The minimum tariff will be set at a later date."
The judge acknowledged the trial had been "very difficult and stressful" and thanked the six women and five men of the jury for their service.
She excused them for further jury service for life and said counselling was available for those who wished to avail of it.
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During the two-month trial, the jury was shown harrowing footage from the body cameras of police officers who responded to a 999 call made by the defendant.
The videos showed the accused sitting on her living room floor in handcuffs and injured from a self-inflicted wound.
Whilst one officer was seen removing the injured and crying girl from the living room, a colleague can be seen lifting the baby boy from a bed.
He can be heard saying "the baby's still warm but I can't feel a pulse" before placing him gently on the floor then starting to perform CPR on the hard surface.
The footage also captured a policeman attempting to drive the injured girl to hospital in a PSNI car before handing her over to paramedics.
Both children were rushed to the Accident and Emergency department at the Royal Victoria Hospital for children and were treated as they lay side-by-side.
Whilst the young girl was successfully treated for a stab wound, her baby brother was pronounced dead at 9pm.
Following her arrest, the defendant made the case that she stabbed her children then turned the knife on herself as she wanted them all to die together.
During subsequent police interviews, she made references about her partner's use of drink and drugs. She also claimed he beat and sexually abused her and that his family threatened to shoot her.
When asked by a detective what she was thinking at the time, she said: "I wanted to kill all three, all of us so that (their father) could have a happy life together with his new woman.
"This was the only solution that came to my mind."
She also spent four days in the witness box at Belfast Crown Court where she was questioned about the events of 27 July, 2021 - and where she denied stabbing her children out of spite and malice towards their father.
Sobbing as she gave evidence, the defendant claimed she tried to resuscitate her son and also told the jury that after injuring her daughter, she then tried to keep the little girl alive by holding her hand to her chest.
She said that she did not know "what was going on in my mind at that time" and told the court she can't forgive herself and wished she could "turn back time".
The jury rejected her version and found her guilty on both charges.
After she had the life sentence imposed upon her, the defendant sobbed as she was taken from the dock and back into custody.
Judge McColgan said she would impose the minimum term the defendant will have to serve before she is considered eligible for release at a later date and said she would review the case next Tuesday.
