Woman found guilty of attempting to murder toddler

A woman has been found guilty of trying to murder a toddler by repeatedly giving her adult medication.

Laura Docherty, 35, formerly of Glenrothes, gave the little girl antidepressant and painkilling drugs resulting in her needing to be resuscitated and placed on a ventilator.

She had denied attempting to murder the child during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh but was unanimously found guilty of the offence by a jury.

A judge told her that the evidence at her trial was “deeply troubling and truly shocking”.

Docherty carried out her crime against the child from the age of two between April 2021 and February 2023 at an address in Edinburgh, at a ward at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and elsewhere.

She assaulted and attempted to murder the victim by repeatedly administering drugs to the child which were medications not prescribed for her.

As a result, the victim suffered seizures and episodes of reduced consciousness.

She had to be resuscitated, admitted to hospital and put on a ventilator and the girl was subjected to medical investigations and procedures.

Judge Michael O’Grady KC said it appeared from parts of the evidence that Docherty had “a troubled and unhappy life”.

He added: “No doubt at least some of that will not be of your making.”

But the judge said: “It is difficult to see that anything could adequately explain or justify what you have done to the child.

“Whatever your own trials and tribulations, whatever the turmoil in your own life, what you did to her was utterly wicked.

“It is impossible to forget the sight of a young child, who should have been in the flower of her childhood, prone in the back of an ambulance, desperately struggling to breathe, desperately struggling to hang on by a thread to life.”

The judge said he would seek a background report on Docherty.

Defence counsel Simon Gilbride told the court that a report on Docherty was previously obtained from a psychiatrist, but that had been dealing with issues such as her fitness for trial.

She was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing.