Shay Kang's paranoid schizophrenic mother sentenced for stabbing 10-year-old to death at home

Paranoid schizophrenic Jaskirat Kaur, 33, stabbed her fun-loving child Shay Kang through the heart and liver and then left her lying in her bed for 12 hours before phoning the police.

Kaur told police she killed her to stop her being taken away and adopted. She later admitted manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Brickhouse Primary School continually raised concerns about Shay's wellbeing in the year running up to her death due to her mother keeping her from attending school.

Within seven months Shay went from a popular pupil who enjoyed her school to being unable to walk and talk properly due to her being kept at her Robin Close home by her mother out of an irrational fear she would be snatched.

West Midlands Police and Sandwell Council social workers visited the home and reported on Kaur's mental health. She believed her home was being targeted by the military through technology. Tragically Shay never reached the threshold for social services to remove her for her own safety from her mother's care.

Police officers who conducted 'safe and well' assessments at the home urged Kaur to go to her GP about her state of mind, but she never heeded their advice. A neighbour and fellow parent was troubled by her behaviour towards her daughter. She showed Brickhouse Primary School's headmaster text messages she had received claiming her phone was hacked by the military.

Prosecutor Sally Howes KC said: "On Monday, March 4, this year the defendant made an emergency phone call to the police [and said] 'my kid's dead' and then hung up. Police attended the address and found Shay in her bedroom, she had died of multiple stab wounds to the chest.

"She told police officers she loved Shay and killed her to stop her being taken away from her by authorities or her father's family. She told police she 'had no regrets of killing her and did it to save her'.

"When interviewed she said had decided to kill her daughter several years beforehand. She woke her up just after midnight and stabbed her in the chest once to which Shay said 'ow, I hate you'. She then put a pillow over her head and stabbed her several times after. She left the body in the bed until she rang the police at 11.56am the next day."

She admitted she had wanted to kill her daughter for the past seven months, telling detectives: “They can’t adopt her, they can’t take her. It’s not going to make sense, but to me it does.

“I was worried about Shay growing up. I knew that there needed to be an end date.

“I would kill her again. I wanted her to die, I don’t regret it.”

After being arrested and evaluated by doctors Kaur was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and began receiving treatment which meant she was deemed mentally fit to plead.

Since being incarcerated in a women's prison and then transferred to a secure mental health a month later she has received no visits or correspondence apart from her legal team. She discovered from her lawyers the school had arranged Shay's funeral.

The school was singled out for praise by Justice Michael Chambers KC after the school's Safeguarding, Welfare & Pastoral Support Officer Carla Newby told the court what a wonderful pupil Shay was and the devastating impact her death had on the school community.

Wearing a black jumper, Kaur sat with her hands clasped in front of her and surrounded by dock officers and nurses and looked straight ahead as Carla Newby, Brickhouse Primary School’s pastoral officer, read out an emotional tribute to Shay on behalf of her and her husband, the school’s head teacher Paul Newby.

Through tears, Mrs Newby said: “Shay was always a bright, happy, fun-loving child who was well-liked by all. Her smile could brighten up the dimmest of days.

“This is the most horrific and devastating situation we have ever had to manage.

“We spent time with Shay as she rested in the funeral home. We placed a pink blanket and a teddy bear in her coffin for her to snuggle.

“It was an honour for us both to have been chosen to arrange her funeral and give her a send-off she deserved. May Shay find some peace now.”

Katherine Goddard KC, defending, said Kaur would be “forever grateful” to Mr and Mrs Newby and school community for the love shown to her and Shay.

She said: “This is not a short-term mental condition, it is deep-seated and long-term, with no guarantee of future improvement. In short, she will not recover from this condition quickly and there will remain a real risk of relapse.

“She has received no visits except for her legal team and received no letters and no-one has tried to contact her in any way.

“This represents the bleak sadness of the future that this defendant faces.”

In mitigation, the court heard her memory of the events of March 4 were not fully formed, which could be a coping mechanism. She had a history of mental health problems after a traumatic childhood, she had no previous convictions.

Justice Chambers said: "I am satisfied you are suffering from a serious mental health disorder namely paranoid schizophrenia and you will be detained for the appropriate treatment. You are a danger to the public. Due to your character and your history of mental illness and having considering all the available dealing with you, I am ordering a hospital order under the 1983 Mental Health Act.

"Due to protect the public from serious harm it is not possible to say how long this order will be for."

He said: “This is a truly dreadful and tragic loss of life. Every child looks to his or her mother for love and protection and this was a gross breach of that trust.

“The enormity of what you have done is difficult to comprehend. What you have done has impacted many lives and the community rightly have been shocked.

“Shay had her whole life before her. She appeared as a happy and contented girl. That was the appearance she gave to the world, but sadly the reality of life at home was very different.

“The conditions in which she lived and the context in which she died were the direct result of your severe mental illness. It led to you both living a socially isolated existence.”