‘It was my knife, it was my hand... it was not me’
What doctor said when charged with stabbing her three-year-old to death
A MOTHER told gardaí, ‘Yes it was my knife, yes it was my hand, it was not me, it was the power’, after she was charged yesterday with the murder of her three-year-old son.
Maha Al Adheem, 42, has been remanded on bail for a week after she was charged yesterday with the murder of Omar Omran in south Dublin on Monday night.
Omar’s body was found when gardaí and an ambulance crew were called to his home in Poddle Park, Crumlin at about 7pm.
They forced entry to the apartment in the Riverside complex and the little boy was discovered in his bedroom. He had been stabbed and was pronounced dead at the scene. His mother was rushed to St. James’s Hospital in a serious condition.
Ms Al-Adheem, who is a doctor, was arrested at about 10am on
‘I hope you are at peace now, my pal’
Wednesday and appeared before Judge Michael Walsh at Dublin District Court yesterday morning. Dressed in blue jeans, pink runners and a purple sweater, she sat silently throughout the short hearing.
Detective Sergeant Brendan O’Halloran told the court that when she was given a true copy of the charge, Ms Al Adheem replied: ‘Yes it was my knife, yes it was my hand, it was not me, it was the power.’
She was granted legal aid after Judge Walsh was given details of her income by defence solicitor Richard Young. There was no Garda objection and she will appear again in court on July 20.
Ms Al Adheem, who is from Iraq, has been living in Ireland since 2010. It is understood she qualified as a doctor in her native country and worked in Syria.
Omar was born in the Rotunda on January 9, 2014. Ms Al Adheem’s husband, Khalid Omran – with whom she is no longer in a relationship – was described as a student on the birth cert. Both parents lived at the one-bedroom flat when Omar was born.
A makeshift shrine at the gates to the Riverside apartments has grown over the last four days.
Balloons, flowers and messages have been attached to railings, and dozens of teddy bears and children’s toys were squeezed in against a small wall at the entrance. Some neighbours left records of their own memories of Omar, including one which read: ‘Dear Omar. Here are your toys back you little divil. I’ve spent two years picking them up after you’d thrown them over the balcony down in front of us.
‘All with a smile on my face of course. They all mean a lot to me. I always enjoyed hearing you acting the maggot.
‘I’m so sorry this is the last time I’ll ever collect them.’ The neighbours wrote that they felt empty and choked. ‘I hope you are at peace now my pal,’ they added.
Vivian Costello, who lives across from the apartments, said: ‘The woman next door used to walk to the shops with them.
‘She said the mum was a lovely lady and the little fella was a lovely wee fella.’