A woman hatched a plan to get a taxi to her mother’s house, overpower her and torture her with a knife, a screwdriver, and boiling water before killing her, a court heard on Thursday.
The accused, Barbie Kardashian (20), told social care workers how she planned to immobilise her mother by running at her with a knife and stabbing her before slowly torturing her to death in her home, Limerick Circuit Court heard.
A jury of six men and six women heard Ms Kardashian, who was born a male named Gabriel Alejandro Gentile, had changed her name by deed poll and received a certificate to recognise her as female.
On Thursday, the court heard details of the alleged torture and murder plan on the second day of Ms Kardashian’s trial on 11 charges of threatening to kill or cause serious harm to others, including seven counts of threatening to kill her mother.
Ms Kardashian, who is diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder, made the alleged threats while a resident at Coovagh House, a secure unit for youths with severe behavioural issues arising from childhood trauma.
Ms Kardashian outlined her plans to kill her mother during a meeting with her social care workers on September 16th, 2020, which had been arranged to discuss a life plan for her ahead of her proposed release into the community after she turned 18.
Plan
A garda statement by Jaqueline Bourke, a social care manager who attended the meeting, was read into evidence by prosecuting senior counsel John O’Sullivan.
Ms Bourke told gardaí Ms Kardashian had detailed to her the plan to kill her mother, adding that she wished to prolong her mother's suffering "for as long as possible".
“I’d want to put her through lots of torture, fear and humiliation,” Ms Kardashian told Ms Bourke, the court heard.
Mr O’Sullivan continued: "I would only walk away after she was dead. I would check her pulse to make sure she was dead, I wouldn’t want her to run out and shout ‘help’, ‘help’, ‘help’.
"I wouldn't want to be caught by the Gardaí, I think I would be caught because I do not feel that I could outsmart them."
Orla Ryan, an expert in social care and who previously acted as a Guardian ad Litem for Ms Kardashian, was also in attendence at the meeting in question, telling the court she became “deeply concerned” after Ms Kardashian “spoke at length about her compulsion to murder her mother”.
Ms Ryan said that while she believed Ms Kardashian was “intent” on killing her mother, the accused also said she wanted someone to stop her from committing the crime “because she was concerned about going to jail”.
Ms Ryan said Ms Kardashian also spoke about “not wanting” to carry out a random killing of a “small female in the community” if she could not kill her mother.
The accused has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of threatening to kill or cause serious harm to her mother, and four counts of threatening to kill her former care worker, Michael Mannix.
Mr Mannix gave evidence on Wednesday that he was not intimidated by Ms Kardashian, but he said he made a statement to gardaí after she threatened to rape and kill his wife and children.
Several members of Ms Kardashian’s care team agreed with her defence barrister that she would say “shocking things to get attention”.
The trial continues on Friday.
