Stranger slit girl’s throat in park as she scooted to mother
Court told of mental health problems suffered by woman accused of Mother’s Day murder
‘I waited in a park and picked my victim, I did what I did, then tried to run away’
A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl was killed on Mother’s Day as she scooted towards her mother, who was jogging in the park, a court has heard.
Emily Jones had gone to Queen’s Park in Bolton with her father Mark Jones earlier this year when she spotted her mother, Sarah Barnes, out running ahead of them, a jury at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester was told.
The seven-year-old had called out to her mother, who did not hear her, when a stranger got up from a bench and slit her throat with a craft knife.
Eltiona Skana, 30, originally from Albania, is appearing at the hearing by video link from Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire.
She has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on March 22, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, a partial defence to murder.
Michael Brady QC, opening the case for the prosecution, said at around 2.15pm that day Emily’s father took her to the park on her scooter.
Emily’s parents were no l onger together but remained on good terms and, as was usual, their daughter spent Sunday with her father and they agreed to meet up later at the park.
Mr Brady said that when Emily saw her mother running in the park, she said: “Daddy, daddy, I want to go to mum.”
Her father consented and she scooted off, then as his daughter drew level with the park bench he saw Skana stand up and move towards Emily.
Mr Brady continued: “Also in the park was Eltiona Skana. She was alone on a bench armed with a craft knife, which she had bought earlier that day from a shop in Bolton town centre.
“Emily’s path towards her mother took her past the defendant who, as she scooted by, grabbed her and in one movement slit her throat with the craft knife and then threw her to the ground.”
Emily’s father heard her cry out and thought she had fallen off her scooter.
He then heard a woman shout: “She’s been stabbed.”
Meanwhile, Tony Canty and his wife, Lynsey, had seen Skana manhandling Emily. He ran after the defendant, brought her to the ground and straddled her until police arrived.
Emily was taken by air ambulance to Salford Royal Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 3.56pm.
After her arrest, Skana was assessed, telling the on-call psychiatrist: “I know I’m a paranoid schizophrenic.”
Skana was moved to the high-security hospital at Rampton where she told a nurse: “It was premeditated, I waited in a park and picked my victim, I did what I did, then tried to run away.”
Mr Brady said although it is accepted the defendant has mental health difficulties, it i s for the jury to decide whether this is a case of murder rather than manslaughter. The trial continues.