10-year-old boy 'sacrifices his life' trying to protect girl from his father who stabbed him 6 times
A 10-year-old boy who was stabbed six times by his own father "sacrificed his life" to protect an eight-year-old girl from him. The father, 38-year-old Karl Morris, who refers to himself as Andrew, admitted to murdering his sleeping son Kane before trying to end the life of another child in a bid to save them from "evil", according to a Daily Mail report.
Following the ordeal that took place in the early hours of November 11 last year at a flat in Coupar Angus, Perthshire, the killer proceeded to stab himself five times before taking a header off a third-floor window.
Laura Gille, Kane's mother, told the High Court in Glasgow how her son "proved to be the bravest person I have ever known and sacrificed his life to save the other girl." Meanwhile, a judge applauded the "incredible bravery" shown by both children.
While the former serviceman was initially charged with murdering his son, prosecutor Alex Prentice, QC accepted a plea of guilty to culpable homicide on the basis of diminished responsibility.
Furthermore, Morris also admitted he tried to kill the eight-year-old girl, who has not been identified for legal reasons.
Gille, the devastated mother, told the court: "I can never change the outcome of that horrendous night and never once believed that anyone in this world was capable of such a cruel act, and most certainly not someone I had loved and was once married too. I'm riddled with endless guilt for not protecting Kane and I feel I have failed as a parent on the highest level possible."
She continued: "In my eyes, Kane has proved to be the bravest person I have ever known and sacrificed his life to save the other girl. Since that terrible night I have feelings of anger, hatred and disgust I never thought were possible but mostly towards myself for my failure to protect my beautiful baby."
During interrogation, Morris told authorities he "was taking them to a better place away from evil", but later admitted he had "done a horrible thing."
According to Prentice, Kane, who was stabbed six times by his own father, went on to protect the girl before eventually collapsing with fatal injuries. "In the course of a meeting with psychiatrists, the accused stated he acted to protect himself and his family from some impending, but otherwise unspecified, mortal danger," he said.
Morris is currently undergoing treatment in the State Hospital at Carstairs, Lanarkshire, and is scheduled for sentencing in August. Judge Lord Mulholland told him in court: "You pleaded guilty to horrific actions. Kane showed incredible bravery and self-sacrifice. The eight-year-old girl showed incredible bravery."
Meanwhile, the girl had to spend four weeks in hospital after sustaining a collapsed lung. Morris served in the Army for five years, the court heard, and struggled to cope with his stepfather's death at a family farm last year.