Mum Sofina Nikat pleads guilty to infanticide over death of toddler
A YOUNG mum has been released on bail hours after she admitted killing her young 14-month-old daughter.
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A YOUNG mum has been released on bail hours after she admitted killing her young 14-month-old daughter.
When little Sanaya Sahib went missing Sofina Nikat told police she had been out walking with her daughter when the toddler was abducted by a barefoot African man smelling of alcohol.
In reality, Nikat, 24, suffocated the little girl then dumped her body in a Heidelberg creek during a walk to the park on April 9 last year.
LAWYER WANTS MUM MURDER CHARGE DOWNGRADED
She told police she killed her baby because she thought the child was possessed.
Nikat was charged with murder but today, her 24th birthday, pleaded guilty to a charge of infanticide.
She was the fifth Victorian woman to plead guilty to the charge that applied when a woman kills her child while mentally disturbed as a result of the birth.
While the offence carries a maximum penalty of five years’ jail, just one woman has been jailed for infanticide in Victorian history.
Nikat’s lawyer, Christopher Dane, urged Supreme Court judge Justice Lex Lasry not to make his client the second.
He said a community corrections order, in line with the sentences in the four other cases of Victorian infanticide, was the appropriate disposition.
The 529 days his client had spent on remand would be “dead time” he said.
“The offence arose out of a series of compounding social, emotional and psychiatric distresses culminating in her deteriorating mental health,” Mr Dane said.
“Ms Nikat’s offence, we submit, must be evaluated in light of her personal circumstances.
“She’s still vulnerable, she’s still suffering from her condition, she’ll need an enormous amount of support,” he said.
Mr Dane said while the killing was nothing short of awful, it was not violent and there were no weapons used.
He tendered a letter from the global Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health, a body formed to advance the understanding of mental health around the time of child birth.
It said post natal depression occurred in seven per cent of women, and Ms Nikat’s case was one of those.
“Severe depression in the post-partum is often undetected and untreated by health services with devastating consequences for mothers and children,” it said.
“We suspect this may have been the case here.”
CCTV footage played to the court showed Nikat walking to the park with a baby in a pram and calmly returning a short time later with the pram empty.
While prosecutors accepted the post natal depression diagnosis, they argued Nikat must be jailed for the killing.
“There remains an important role for general deterrence, denunciation and just punishment,” Crown prosector Kerry Judd, QC, said.
“Infanticide is not a justification for killing. Others must be deterred from engaging in this kind of criminal activity.”
Nikat’s release on bail was not opposed.
She will return to court at a later date for sentencing.
VICTORIAN CASES OF INFANTICIDE
1. April, 2016
Sofina Nikat smothered her 14-month-old daughter then placed her body in a creek. Her lawyers have argued she should be placed on a community corrections order.
2. April, 2015
Akon Guode is the only Victorian woman to be jailed for the crime of infanticide. She is serving a 26 1/2 year sentenced for killing three of her children and attempting to murder another, when she drove them into a lake in Melbourne’s outer southwest.
3. February, 2015
A teen mum, who can’t be named, was placed on a 12-month community corrections order after she killed her newborn daughter and dumped her body. The 19-year-old did not realise she was pregnant when she gave birth in her bedroom.
4. April, 2012
A mother of twins, who can’t be named, was placed on a 12-month community corrections order after she killed one of the baby girls and left another severely disabled. She told police post-natal depression may have caused her to “flip”.
5. July, 2003
Leanne Michelle Azzopardi drowned her five-week old baby while suffering from post natal depression. She was sentenced to an 18-month community-based order.