Mother unlawfully killed daughter

A schizophrenic mother unlawfully killed her three-year-old daughter before dousing her body in acid, a jury ruled today.

The body of Alia Ahmed Jama was discovered by police at the home she shared with her mother Iman Omar Yousef, 25, in Erdington, Birmingham, on February 13.

Birmingham Crown Court heard the child had been stabbed repeatedly and acid had corroded her skin, bones and internal organs.

Yousef, an asylum seeker from Somalia, was initially charged with Alia's murder but Mr Justice Flaux ruled that she was unfit to plead to the charge and jurors were instructed to consider whether she committed the act of unlawfully killing her daughter.

The panel of seven men and four women took just under two hours to reach a verdict.

Mr Justice Flaux, sentencing, said: "This is a terrible and tragic case. The defendant, Iman Omar Yousef, who is now 25, suffers from a serious mental illness, mainly paranoid schizophrenia.

"On the night of February 12 this year she killed her daughter Alia in a frenzied attack with a knife or similar sharp weapon and then poured a corrosive agent ... possibly sulphuric acid over the body after the child was dead, possibly in an effort to dispose of the body.

"She (Yousef) had clearly been mentally ill for some time and it was while in the grip of that derangement that she committed that awful act.

"She continues to pose a risk both to herself and to the public at large.

"I am quite satisfied that it is necessary for the protection of the public from serious harm for this lady to be detained in hospital."

The court heard Yousef had been suffering from delusional thinking and hallucinations for a two year period before killing her daughter.