Children traumatised after savage knife attack
Published:Monday | May 17, 2021 | 12:10 AMRasbert Turner/Gleaner Writer
The mother of two children who were savagely chopped and left to die is pleading for help for the teenagers, who still bear physical and psychological scars.
The sentencing of 24-year-old Timothy Tulloch, who pleaded guilty, was postponed on May 10 in the St Catherine Circuit Court to July 2.
When Tulloch appeared, Justice Courtney Daye told the court that a psychological assessment had not been completed in time for sentencing.
The mother, whose name will not be published in order to protect the identities of the minors, told the court that the children have been traumatised by the attack.
“They (the children) are still getting counselling from the police. We are to go back to the Old Harbour station, but I want this (the sentencing) to end,” the distraught mother said.
In an interview with The Gleeaner at the last court appearance, the mother, a 38-year-old labourer, broke down.
“Since the incident, my life is really challenging me to survive. Right now, it’s the floor sometimes I sleep on, as the bed mash up and I can’t buy one.
“I have to be staying home to take care of my daughters, as they are still undergoing treatment,” the mother said.
One of the children is due for plastic surgery at a cost of $350,000.
The mother said that since the 2019 attack, she has felt increasingly hopeless.
Justice Daye urged the mother to contact the Victim Support Unit for its intervention.
Allegations are that on January 28, 2019, about 9 p.m., the complainants were at home in Marlie Acres in Old Harbour, St Catherine, when their stepfather left them to meet up with their mother, who was on her way home.
Tulloch, who lived next door, attacked the 13-year-old girl and attempted to rape her when her 11-year-old brother caught him in the act.
A struggle developed, during which Tulloch used a machete to repeatedly chop both complainants.
The severely injured siblings were left in a pool of blood and were discovered when the adults returned home.
An investigation was launched by the St Catherine South police, which resulted in Tulloch being charged with attempted rape and wounding with intent.
His sentencing has been postponed thrice.