Seconds to live as knife hit an artery

Feb 26 2008 by Sam Wonfor, The Journal

A YOUNG mother stabbed to death during a street confrontation would have collapsed within seconds of the fatal blow, a murder trial heard yesterday.

Samantha Madgin, 18, suffered more than 30 injuries including knife wounds to her arms, pathologist Jennifer Hamilton told Newcastle Crown Court.

She also had cuts to her fingers and hands which were typical of defensive injuries caused by grabbing a knife or fending off a knife and abrasions to her face, probably caused as she fell to the ground, Dr Hamilton said.

But the fatal injury was a stab wound to the chest which hit a major artery near her heart causing internal bleeding, she told the jury.

Asked how quickly Samantha would have collapsed after that wound was inflicted, Dr Hamilton said it would have been within seconds.

A 15-year-old girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, admits Samantha’s manslaughter in August last year but denies her murder.

Prosecutors say that Samantha, who became a mother just a few weeks before she died, had been acting as a peacemaker during the disturbance in Wallsend, North Tyneside.

The trial continues today.