Salt murder bid charge dropped

Susan Hamilton gave evidence for the first time

A woman accused of poisoning an eight-year-old girl with salt has been acquitted of attempted murder.

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Brodie, ruled there was no case to answer on the first charge against Susan Hamilton.

Mrs Hamilton, 38, of Broomhouse Street South, Edinburgh, still faces charges of assault by allegedly dosing the little girl with salt and reckless conduct to the danger of life, which she denies.

Following legal argument at the end of the Crown case, Lord Brodie agreed with the defence that the attempted murder allegation should be dropped.

The court has been told that the girl suffered a stroke which left her brain damaged and doctors found abnormally high levels of sodium in her blood.

On Tuesday, the defence called Mrs Hamilton to the witness stand for the first time.

She explained how she had called the doctor after the girl collapsed in March 2000.

Brain damage

Through tears she described how the girl was turning blue in hospital and that she was concerned medical staff "didn't do what they were supposed to".

Mrs Hamilton said she was in a terrible state when she heard the girl had had a seizure, was brain damaged and might not survive.

She then denied that a syringe said to have been found in her kitchen was used to introduce a potentially deadly solution into the little girl's system.

Advocate depute Johanna Johnston, prosecuting, suggested that nothing else explained the high levels of sodium in the girl's blood.

Mrs Hamilton told her own lawyer, Ruth Anderson QC, that she could not explain how scientists found salt on the syringe.

Ms Anderson demanded: "Did you on 9 or 10 March 2000 make up a wee solution of water and salt and give it to (the girl) to harm her?"

"I did not," Mrs Hamilton told her.

Mrs Hamilton said that when the child was ill, just before she was taken to hospital in March 2000, she had followed her GP's instructions and tried to give the girl a solution of sugar and water to combat dehydration, but without success.

"She just wasn't having it. She was retching and I gave up. She was being very difficult. She was lifting her legs up and saying her tummy was sore."

"What was going on was that she was being poisoned with salt," suggested Ms Johnston.

"No, that is a load of rubbish," Mrs Hamilton told her.

The trial, which began on 15 May, continues.