Distressed Mother Strangles 5-Year-Old Daughter To Death

A mother who murdered her five-year-old daughter wept in the dock after officials sentenced her to prison for manslaughter.

Reports said that Martina Madarova, 41, admitted that she killed Alijah Thomas in September 2021 at their family home in Ealing, West London.

Madarova denied murder but admitted manslaughter, which the prosecution accepted when medical studies revealed she was depressed during the pandemic.

When she was sentenced to five years in prison today at the Old Bailey, Judge Richard Marks acknowledged that she had previously been an "exemplary mother."

"I am blessed that I have other children, but the fact that I have lost one is devastating," Alijah's father, David Thomas, said in a victim impact statement obtained by BBC News.

Martina, according to Thomas, is not a bad person. He went on to say that she was the best mother.

Thomas believes Martina was ill and would not have done anything to hurt their daughter on purpose.

Other reports mentioned that Thomas had received a call from Madarova, a Slovakian national, on Sept. 14 last year, informing him that Alijah had died.

Atkinson said the mother was afterward discovered laying on the sofa with her daughter wrapped under a blanket as if to sleep.

Madarova went on to say that she had "failed" her daughter and that she had consumed two bottles of wine.

In the ambulance, she also mentioned this: "My daughter, what have I done? My daughter, her life, I took her life. She was the most beautiful thing."

Alijah's final moments were disclosed after Madarova informed paramedics that her daughter had said to her: "Mommy, don't kill me."

She replied that she did not intend to kill her and wanted to help the child. The mother also expressed her confidence in her daughter's safety. " 'No mommy, you're killing me," Alijah had responded.

Her goal had been to murder her daughter before killing herself.

She was characterized as 'distressed' while in police custody, and when asked if she heard voices in her head, she said yes.

Alijah died from compression of the neck, according to a post-mortem study.

When he imprisoned Madarova, Judge Marks stated that the killing entailed a "breach of trust" of a "vulnerable" victim.

The defendant's intoxication and her failure to seek medical help were aggravating elements.

However, the judge acknowledged that she would have to live with the consequences of her actions for the rest of her life.

Madarova wept as she was condemned in the dock.