Hazel Waters pleads guilty to manslaughter

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Hazel Waters pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her two-year-old son, Muhammad Hassan Khan. The proceedings were reported on 23 May 2017.

The charge concerned his death between 15 and 16 October 2014. He was found dead in the bedroom of their south Dublin home on 16 October.

At a sentencing hearing on 23 May 2017, two psychiatrists told the court that Waters had a personality disorder which diminished her responsibility for the killing. Justice Patrick McCarthy was due to sentence her on 1 June 2017.

A post-mortem examination found multiple neck wounds caused by scissors. Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis identified two deep wounds that caused the boy’s death.

When interviewed by gardaí, Waters said she could not remember harming her son, would never harm him and did not know what had happened. She also said she could not remember sending a text describing him as a “fake child”.

Dr Brenda Wright, who prepared a report for the prosecution, said Waters had been suffering from an acute and transient psychotic disorder at the time of the killing. She said there was insufficient evidence to assess whether Waters qualified for a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity because she claimed no memory of the killing and her state of mind at the time could not be established.