Psychiatric report ordered for woman who harmed child with laxatives
The sentencing of a woman convicted of harming a child with laxatives, which affected his development, has been deferred so a psychiatric report about her can be prepared.
Tracy Menhinick, 52, was found guilty of “wilfully” ill-treating the child in a manner likely to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury to health on various occasions over the course of three years from 2014.
She administered a non-prescribed medication, namely the laxative lactulose, which caused his development and mobility to be affected and led to him being admitted to hospital.
Menhinick (pictured), of Aberdeen, then consented to treatments, procedures and operations on him which she knew were unnecessary “all to his permanent disfigurement, permanent impairment and to the danger of his life”.
She was convicted in February following a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen and appeared for sentencing at the High Court in Glasgow on Tuesday.
The court heard that Menhinick has a mental health disorder and judge Lady Drummond said she needs more information before she can pass sentence.
Frances Connor, representing Menhinick, said the 52-year-old has a “package of mental health problems”.
Ms Connor said that none of the medical reports currently available to the court provide the information needed to inform the judge when sentencing Menhinick, who appeared in court in a wheelchair.
She said: “None of these reports get to where we need to be now. It would be difficult to see how Ms Menhinick’s diagnoses could not have impacted on her behaviour given the nature of the offence.”
The ill treatment happened on various occasions when the boy was aged between three and six at an address in Aberdeen, at Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital and elsewhere.
Lady Drummond ordered a psychiatric report.
She said: “There is no doubt from reading these reports that Ms Menhinick has a very complex psychiatric history. I need to understand that fully.”
Lady Drummond added: “The question which is significant at the moment is how it may or may not have impacted on her culpability.”
The judge ordered a report into the question of what impact Menhinick’s mental disorder may have had on her offending and what impact it may have had on her culpability, and deferred sentence until April 9.
The child cannot be named for legal reasons.
Copyright (c) PA Media Ltd. 2024, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Andrew Milligan / PA.
