Woman Stabbed Her Newborn to Death Because She Thought a Baby Would “Harm” Her Career
A young British woman will spend the rest of her life behind bars after a court found her guilty of murdering her newborn daughter by stabbing her to death. Prosecutors said Rachel Julie Tunstill, 26, of Burnley, Lancashire, England, gave birth to her daughter, Mia Kelly, in her bathroom at home on Jan. 14 and then stabbed her 15 times with scissors before putting Mia’s body in a kitchen bin, according to the Lancashire Telegraph.
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Prosecutors said Rachel Julie Tunstill, 26, of Burnley, Lancashire, England, gave birth to her daughter, Mia Kelly, in her bathroom at home on Jan. 14 and then stabbed her 15 times with scissors before putting Mia’s body in a kitchen bin, according to the Lancashire Telegraph.
The Irish Mirror reports Tunstill recently was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison for murdering her newborn daughter.
According to court testimony, Tunstill told her partner, Ryan Kelly, 31, that she had miscarried their daughter. She also allegedly told him she had had prior miscarriages and did not need medical attention on the day when Mia was born.
Prosecutors accused Tunstill of killing her daughter because she was worried about her future career. Other court testimony indicated she may have been afraid of losing her job because she was pregnant.
Tunstill said she could not remember killing her daughter.
As the BBC reports:
Sentencing Tunstill, Mr Justice Davis said: “The victim was a baby who had barely taken its first breaths.”
Following the jury’s verdict, Tunstill fell to the floor sobbing loudly as the judge said: “What you did was to take the life of a newborn baby.”
The judge said there was “no way of knowing why this happened”, adding: “It is a truly distressing, dreadful crime.”