Toddler left on ventilator after woman gave her adult medication in murder bid

A woman who tried to murder a toddler by repeatedly giving adult medication to the child has been jailed.

Laura Docherty gave the girl anti-depressant and pain-killing drugs, resulting in her needing to be resuscitated and placed on a ventilator during the prolonged abuse.

The 35-year-old 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 after she was convicted of the crime that the evidence presented at her trial was “deeply troubling and truly shocking”.

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

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

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

The victim, as a consequence, suffered seizures and episodes of reduced consciousness. She required to be resuscitated, admitted to hospital and put on a ventilator, and the girl was subjected to medical investigations and procedures.

One man told the court that Docherty sent him a message trying to get him to give amitriptyline to the girl, but he said tablets out of a blister pack were adult medication and he would never give such to a child. He said: “I gave her a spoonful of Calpol.”

Docherty was on bail during her trial but was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing.