Mother Jaskirat Kaur handed hospital order after killing 10-year-old daughter Shay Kang

A mother has been handed an indefinite hospital order after admitting to killing her 10-year-old daughter.

Jaskirat Kaur, 33, denied murder but pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Shay Kang on the basis of diminished responsibility at Wolverhampton Crown Court in August.

The court heard Kaur was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and believed she was being targeted by “lasers and technology” before stabbing her daughter 11 times in the chest as she slept on Monday 4 March.

Hours after the stabbing, Kaur phoned West Midlands Police and said: “My kid is dead.”

When police arrived at the home in Robin Close, Rowley Regis, Kaur told officers she had seen “projections coming in and out” of the room, adding: “It was me [that killed her] because I didn’t want her getting took by it.”

Kaur showed no emotion while being sentenced on Friday.

Judge Michael Chambers KC told her: “The enormity of what you have done is difficult to comprehend. What you have done has impacted many lives and the community rightly have been shocked.

“Shay had her whole life before her. She appeared as a happy and contented girl. That was the appearance she gave to the world, but sadly the reality of life at home was very different.”

‘I don’t regret it’

Kaur previously admitted she had wanted to kill her daughter for the past seven months, telling detectives during a police interview: “They can’t adopt her, they can’t take her. It’s not going to make sense, but to me it does.

“I was worried about Shay growing up. I knew that there needed to be an end date.

“I would kill her again. I wanted her to die, I don’t regret it.”

Prosecutor Sally Howes KC told the court concerns had been raised about Shay’s welfare after she failed to attend school.

In the year before Shay’s death, she and her mother had contact with police and social services multiple times.

On one occasion in January 2023, police visited Kaur’s home and suggested she speak to a GP about her paranoia. At the time, Shay appeared in good health and did not think she was in immediate danger.

In September of the same year, police visited the house again after a concerned call from Brickhouse Primary School. Officers noted this time Shay appeared nervous, was hard to understand and giving monosyllabic answers.

A child in need plan was put in place in November 2023 and Shay returned to school in January of this year. She told teachers she had no one to speak to while she was at home, and that her and her mother spent their time in separate rooms and “did nothing and went nowhere”.

A ‘fun-loving child’

Carla Newby, pastoral officer at Brickhouse Primary School where Shay was a Year 5 pupil, described her as a “bright, happy, fun-loving child who was well-liked by all”.

She said her and her husband Paul Newby, who is head teacher of the school, were “honoured” to have been chosen to arrange Shay’s funeral and “give her the send-off she deserved”.

Kayleigh Colclough, a friend who Shay and her mother lived with for the first five years of the youngster’s life, said Shay “was an old soul – she was special, advanced, clever, funny”.

“I just have the best memories of her, she made me happy,” she told Sky News.

“She would make me feel warm. That’s the sort of person she was.”

Ms Colclough, who said Shay called her godmother or aunt, “fell to the ground” and “just screamed” when she found out she had been killed.

Kaur had “disgusted and disappointed” her, Ms Colclough added.

“She just doesn’t exist to me now,” she said. “At one point I had so much love for her as a sister, as a friend and there are certain points we had the best memories.

“But she just broke me when she took Shay and that’s one thing I can’t forgive.”

Ms Colclough said Kaur would have “angry outbursts” and while she knew she’d suffered “trauma”, she didn’t see any “signs of mental health” problems.

“I wanted it to go to trial. I just think it’s the easy way out,” she said of Kaur’s manslaughter plea.

She added: “For me, Shay will never be forgotten. I will always speak Shay’s name.

“Shay deserves justice. She’s a special child. She didn’t ask for a lot, she just wanted to be loved.

“I miss her and I’m heartbroken and I just want the world to change.”

A spokesperson for Sandwell Children’s Safeguarding Partnership said: “Our thoughts remain with everyone who knew Shay.

“The Partnership has commissioned an independent Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review, in line with our statutory responsibilities, to consider whether there are any learning opportunities arising from this tragic event.”