Mum's chilling six words to police after killing cancer-sufferer son, 6

A mum gave a chilling six-word statement to police just hours after she killed her six-year-old son who had cancer.

Karolina Zurawska, suffered from a "profound" mental illness likely to be paranoid schizophrenia and was when she killed young Alexander, Swansea heard today. Originally from , the 42-year-old had been living at a two-bedroom bungalow in the Gendros estate in with her son at the time of the incident in August 2024. The court heard Zurawska had previously been the "best mother" to her son, who was recovering from a which left him partially sighted and needing a cane to walk.

Michael Jones KC, prosecuting, said that concerned neighbours opened the door of the home after hearing screaming and growing concerned, where they saw Zurawska "staring into space" and standing beside her son holding a blade or hand saw. Eyewitnesses described seeing the boy lying in a pool of blood with a deep cut to his neck, reports .

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Paramedics arrived at the scene shortly after 8pm and gave the boy advanced life support at the scene, but he was pronounced dead at 9.45pm. After Zurawska was arrested, she told PC Luke Tamplin and PC Kane Symonds of she had now realised what she had done, telling them: "I've killed my kid with cancer. He almost got through it. I can't believe it."

Zurawska later pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility in March, but denied murder. She also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of her father, Krzysztof Siwi, earlier the same day.

The manslaughter charge was accepted by the prosecution, with three psychiatric experts concluding Zurawska had been suffering from a psychotic illness at the time. Today, Judge Paul Thomas KC sentenced Zurawska to an indefinite hospital order at Swansea Crown Court.

Sentencing her, he said: "The often-overused word 'tragic' does not begin to reflect the awfulness of what happened that day to Alex. Those that know you and know of your relationship with Alexander have described you as a devoted, loving, caring mother. Your father described you as 'the best'.

"Your relationship with Alexander was a warm and loving one on both sides. You adored each other, and he trusted you. Unfortunately, from birth, Alexander had major medical problems, in particular a brain tumour, which had its own complications, which had a huge impact on his life.

"You devoted yourself to being his carer, to provide him with everything he needed and did so effectively as a single parent for the most part. The stresses on you must have been enormous."

He said there was "strong and compelling evidence" that she was acting in an "uncharacteristic manner", but no one could have foreseen what would happen before that day. Adding: "The unanimous view of three psychiatrists is that you were at the time in the grip of a psychotic episode,"

"It affected your mental state so greatly that you were unable to understand what you were doing," he said. "You were suffering from the delusion of hearing voices, you believe that you were being instructed by a demonic force. You are not a wicked mother, far from it."

Speaking after the case, South Wales Police Detective Chief Inspector Matthew Davies said: “This was a tragic and deeply distressing incident which has had a profound effect on the whole community in Gendros, as well as the staff and pupils at Aleksander’s school. They will all have been devastated to hear of Aleksander’s death.

"The local community in Gendros were outstanding in terms of their support for our investigation at what was an extremely trying time. Our thoughts remain with Aleksander’s family and friends.”