Andrea Skopova, then aged 20, has appeared before Sheffield Magistrates’ Court alongside three family members charged with the murder of her newborn baby daughter.
The criminal proceedings follow an emergency response on the morning of Sunday, 30 August, after Skopova presented at a local hospital showing clear physical signs of having delivered a child at approximately 37 weeks.
Hospital personnel alerted South Yorkshire Police shortly after 5am when Skopova repeatedly refused to inform doctors of the location of her infant.
Officers executed a search of a residential property in Holywell Heights, Wincobank, Sheffield, locating the child, referred to in court as Baby S.
The infant was discovered wrapped inside a towel and placed in a blue bag situated on top of a washing machine inside an outhouse.
Medical examinations presented to magistrates detailed that the newborn had suffered 33 separate injuries, including 15 stab wounds. A medical examiner concluded that the child was alive when the fatal wounds were inflicted.
Appearing in the dock alongside Skopova were Peter Horvath Jnr, then aged 19, Nina Horvathova, then aged 37, and Peter Horvath Snr, then aged 38.
All four adult defendants were charged with:
- Murder
- Causing or allowing the death of a child
- Perverting the course of justice
A 15-year-old female child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has also been charged with perverting the course of justice in connection with allegations of cleaning blood from a bathroom within the property.
The prosecutor informed the court that the defendants gave contradictory accounts during initial police interviews, while an eight-year-old child was also present in the home at the time of the incident.
The presiding magistrates remanded Skopova, Horvath Jnr, Horvathova, and Horvath Snr in custody to appear before Sheffield Crown Court.
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