Colchester woman given indefinite hospital order after stabbing two boys aged 10 in Friskney near Skegness
A woman found to have deliberately stabbed two 10-year-old boys was today sentenced to a hospital order without a time limit.
Ann Marie McEvoy, 42, of Church Walk, Colchester, was arrested after police found two boys with stab wounds at a flat in Fold Hill, Friskney, near Skegness, on November 30, 2022.
Officers were initially sent on November 29 to conduct a welfare check, but McEvoy produced a large kitchen knife when an officer went to the front door at about 3.30pm.
In June a jury unanimously found that McEvoy - who was deemed unfit to stand trial - had committed two counts of wounding the boys with intent.
Prosecuting, Michael Cranmer-Brown said that McEvoy was found in a bedroom holding a large kitchen knife, with the two boys lying on the bed and bleeding from their injuries.
McEvoy was tasered and fell to the ground. The boys were taken into the front room and given first aid before being taken to hospital.
The boys, who were 10 at the time and cannot be named because of their ages, sustained several stab wounds but neither was believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries.
One of the boys had puncture wounds across the top of his chest and the left side of neck, and a large wound in the middle of his back.
The other boy had a wound on his right hand, an injury at the base of his neck and a large gaping wound on the back of his left arm.
A sentence hearing at Lincoln Crown Court today (Wednesday, September 25) heard McEvoy was still unfit to participate in the proceedings and was not present in court as she was currently being treated at a mental hospital in Essex where she had already been for several months.
Mr Cranmer-Brown explained McEvoy had not been found guilty of a criminal act, and therefore the sentencing options open to the court were either a hospital order, a guardianship order or a discharge.
The court also heard evidence from McEvoy's treating clinician who confirmed she was suffering from a schizoaffective disorder which required her to be treated in a mental hospital.
Passing sentence Judge Simon Hirst made a Section 37 Hospital Order with a special Section 41 restriction which means McEvoy can be detained in a mental hospital until doctors believe she is safe to be released.
Judge Hirst said: "The jury concluded Miss McEvoy had stabbed the boys several times."
The two charges of attempted murder which McEvoy would have faced if she had been fit to stand trial were ordered to lie on the file.
Mr Cranmer-Brown said the Crown Prosecution Service would have to consider bringing a prosecution against McEvoy on those charges if she was ever fit enough to stand trial.
PC Andrew Donnelly, based at Boston and one of the firearms officers who went into the flat, said during evidence that he saw the boys on the bed after McEvoy had been tasered.
"One of the children was underneath the duvet and another was further away but looking at me. Both boys were crying," he said.
The court heard he then arrested McEvoy, and video footage showed she repeatedly said to him: "I don't want them near you. I'd rather them die than be near you."
A kitchen knife was retrieved by a crime scene investigator on top of a box under the bed, with an apparent blood stain at the end of the blade.
Interviews with the two boys were presented as evidence.
Boy A said he "woke up when [McEvoy] was about to stab" and said she was on the bed with a knife above her head.
"She went for [Boy B] first, got his back, nearly got his heart but I stopped it," he said.
Boy A said that he put his hand over Boy B's heart so that the knife went through his hand instead.
Boy B said that McEvoy "thought it was a sacrifice" when police officers were outside the flat.
He said he also woke up in the early hours of the morning, and heard Boy A say "I don't want to die".
He added: "I didn't feel any pain because I was completely in shock. I was absolutely terrified."
The jury concluded that McEvoy had deliberately stabbed each child, the stabbings were unlawful, and they had caused wounds.