Edinburgh: Mikaeel's Mum In Court

8 July 2014, 11:40 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

The mother of Edinburgh toddler Mikaeel Kular has appeared in court charged with murdering her son and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Rosdeep Adekoya, who is 34, appeared before judge Lord Boyd at the High Court in the capital.

The Crown allege that she murdered her son after assaulting him on various occasions between January 12th and January 15th this year.

Prosecutors also claim that she attempted to defeat the ends of justice by telling lies to police officers who were investigating her child's disappearance.

Ms Adekoya, whose address was given in legal documents as being a prisoner of the prison of Cornton Vale in Stirlingshire, did not enter a plea during the two minute long hearing.

She was dressed in black, wore glasses and sat beside two security officers during proceedings.

On Tuesday, prosecution lawyer Alex Prentice QC told the court that there had been discussions between the Crown and Ms Adekoya's legal representatives.

Mr Prentice said that these discussions were ongoing and asked for the case to be continued to a hearing at Edinburgh High Court later this month.

Ms Adekoya's defence advocate Brian McConnachie told the court that he wouldn't be entering a plea at this stage on his client's behalf.  He added: "It would be of assistance to parties that a plea is not entered at this stage."

Ms Adekoya, originally of Drylaw in Edinburgh, was arrested by police following claims that her child disappeared from her home in the city in January. Members of the local community turned out in their thousands to help police search for Mikaeel shortly before his body was discovered in woodland in Fife.

According to a legal document that has been placed before the court, prosecutors allege that on various occasions between January 12th and January 15th 2014 at Flat 13/4 Ferry Gait Crescent, Edinburgh, Ms Adekoya assaulted her three-year-old son by repeatedly seizing hold of him and repeatedly punching him on the head and body.

It is claimed that her actions caused his body to strike against a hard object and that she inflicted blunt force injuries on his head and body. Prosecutors also claim that she failed to seek medical attention for him and that she murdered him.

The second charge alleges that between January 14th and January 17th 2014, at the Ferry Gait Crescent address and an area of woodland behind the house at 32 Dunvegan Avenue in Kirkcaldy, and at Drylaw Police Office in Edinburgh, Ms Adekoya attempted to defeat the ends of justice.

Prosecutors allege that she did this in a bid to avoid being detected, arrested and prosecuted for the crime.

It is alleged that she wrapped the dead body of Mikaeel in a duvet cover before putting him in a suitcase and driving in her car to Fife.

Prosecutors claim that she transported Mikaeel's remains from the Ferry Gait Crescent address via Flora Stevenson Primary School, Comely Bank Road, Edinburgh, to 32 Dunvegan Avenue in Kirkcaldy.

It is also claimed that at Dunvegan Avenue, Adekoya removed the suitcase from the car and took it to an area of woodland behind the house, hid it under a bush and attempted to further conceal it by covering it with woodland debris and foliage.

It is also alleged that she made a 999 call to the emergency services and pretended that, between the evening of January 15th 2014 and the morning of January 16th 2014, Mikaeel got out of his bed, climbed onto a stool, unlocked the front door of the house, left of his own accord and was a missing person.

It is claimed that the truth, as she knew, was that he was actually dead.

Prosecutors further claimed that she pretended to officers investigating the supposed disappearance of Mikaeel, that the version of events given by her during the time she made the 999 call was a true version of events.

Prosecutors say she caused a police investigation to be launched into his disappearance and that a major search was then made for him which involved police officers, members of the fire service, the coastguard, the mountain rescue, air support and members of the public.

Lord Boyd allowed the case to continue at the end of proceedings on Tuesday.

The case against Ms Adekoya will next call at the High Court in Edinburgh on July 25th.