Neighbour’s heard ‘animal screams’ as mum k*lled disabled son, 6, with a saw

A mum who cut her son’s throat with a saw and tried to stab her own father to death has been detained indefinitely.

Six-year-old Alexander Zurawski was found lying in a pool of blood at home in Swansea with his mother Karolina Zurawska kneeling next to him with a handsaw at her side last August 29.

She also lashed out at her dad Krzysztof Siwi with a knife, telling him: ‘I’m sorry I have to kill you today.’

After being arrested, Polish-born Zurawska asked if Alexander’s dad had been told of his death, saying: ‘How do you tell him I cut my son’s head off?’

She also said: ‘I killed my kid with cancer. He almost got through it.’

Prosecutor Michael Jones KC said neighbours called emergency services after hearing ‘animal screams’ from inside the house and finding Alexander dead inside.

He said: ‘First to arrive on the scene were paramedics who discovered Alexander’s lifeless body in a pool of blood in the entrance hallway.

‘The defendant was kneeling next to his body with a handsaw at her side. A substantial injury to Alexander’s neck was immediately observed and despite the efforts of the paramedics his life was pronounced extinct at the scene.’

The court heard Zurawska had previously been the ‘best mother’ to her son, who was recovering from a brain tumour which left him partially sighted and requiring a cane to walk.

She pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility in March but denied murder.

She also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of her father, Krzysztof Siwi, earlier the same day.

The manslaughter charge was accepted by the prosecution, with three psychiatric experts concluding Zurawska had been suffering from a psychotic illness at the time.

Judge Paul Thomas KC sentenced Zurawska to an indefinite hospital order at Swansea Crown Court on Friday.

Sentencing her, he said: ‘The often-overused word “tragic” does not begin to reflect the awfulness of what happened that day to Alex.

‘Those that know you and know of your relationship with Alexander have described you as a devoted, loving, caring mother. Your father described you as “the best”.

‘Your relationship with Alexander was a warm and loving one on both sides. You adored each other, and he trusted you.

‘Unfortunately, from birth, Alexander had major medical problems, in particular a brain tumour, which had its own complications, which had a huge impact on his life.

‘You devoted yourself to being his carer, to provide him with everything he needed and did so effectively as a single parent for the most part.

‘The stresses on you must have been enormous.’

He said there was ‘strong and compelling evidence’ that she was acting in an ‘uncharacteristic manner’, but no one could have foreseen what would happen before that day.

The judge said she had hugged her father, told him she loved him, before ‘launching three attacks on him’, intending to kill him.

‘The unanimous view of three psychiatrists is that you were at the time in the grip of a psychotic episode,’ he said.

‘It affected your mental state so greatly that you were unable to understand what you were doing.

‘You were suffering from the delusion of hearing voices, you believe that you were being instructed by a demonic force.

‘You are not a wicked mother, far from it.’