Four people accused of murdering a newborn girl who suffered 33 wounds in 15 separate stabbings have appeared in court.
The baby’s mother, Andrea Skopova, 20, appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday with Peter Horvath Jnr, 19, Peter Horvath Snr, 38, and Nina Horvathova, 37.
Charges and court appearance
The defendants, who are all Slovakian nationals, are charged with the murder of a newborn named in the charges as Baby S. No pleas were entered by the defendants and a further hearing was fixed for December 14.
Horvath Jnr, Horvath Snr and Horvathova, all of Holywell Heights, Sheffield, and Skopova, of Robey Street, Grimesthorpe, Sheffield, are also charged with causing or allowing the death of a child, and perverting the course of justice by cleaning the scene of the alleged crime.
Discovery of the baby
Last month, a court was told that the baby’s body was found on top of a washing machine in an outhouse at an address in the Wincobank area of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on August 30.
Baby S was found wrapped in a towel and in a blue bag in an outbuilding at an address in Holywell Heights.
Details from the prosecution
A 15-year-old girl, who cannot be named, also appeared at the same hearing on Friday charged with the same perverting the course of justice offence. All five defendants sat in the glass-fronted dock, watched by members of their family in the packed public gallery balcony above. They were flanked by seven security guards and three Slovak interpreters.
When the defendants appeared in magistrates’ court last month, a prosecutor said Skopova was the baby’s mother and the father is unknown. Skopova is the girlfriend of the defendant Horvath Jnr, who is the son of the other two adult defendants, that court heard, but he is not believed to be the father.
The prosecutor said she had suffered 33 wounds from 15 “separate stabbings” and wounds to her “face and torso – front and back”.
Trial date set
A trial date of April 12 next year has already been fixed, and the trial is expected to last six to seven weeks. The defendants were all remanded in custody by Judge Jeremy Richardson KC.
