RACHAEL Martin, the Co Fermanagh mother facing charges linked to her toddler’s murder, claimed there were changes in her daughter’s behaviour in the month before she died from head injuries in December 2009.
Dungannon Crown Court heard that 27-year-old Martin put the changes down to baby Millie possibly being “a wee bit jealous” of her then lover Barry ‘Budgie’ McCarney. Martin, who made the claims to police while initially being questioned as a witness, not a suspect, also told of unexplained injuries to the 15-month-old infant, including bumps to her head and a claim by McCarney that she had taken a fall from her cot.
Martin, from Main Street, Kesh, is accused of wilfully neglecting and allowing her death, while 33-year-old McCarney from Woodview Crescent, Trillick, denies not only her murder, but sexually and physically abusing her.
Reading from one of her video-taped interviews, designed and known as ‘achieving best evidence’, a detective said Martin claimed that in the past Millie had been “playful... affectionate”.
However, she then became “clingy at home” always standing by her as she worked, pulling at her trouser leg. She also noticed that in the mornings instead of playing with her toy mouse Mimsy, “she just lay in her wee cot”, although she put this down to Millie just “being good”, or “having a wee lie-in”.
The trial has now been adjourned for the mid-term break and will continue on Monday week.