Mother denies murdering child

Tamara Butler with daughter Bethany

(CNS): Tamara Butler pleaded not guilty Friday to the murder of her 6-year-old daughter, Bethany Butler, and will now face trial in February next year. Butler has denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility and the trial will focus on arguments regarding psychiatric opinions over the woman’s state of mind at the time she is alleged to have killed her child in October 2014.

Butler has been on remand at Fairbanks since she was arrested shortly after the body of her child was found in her car on the Queen’s Highway in East End. The child had suffered multiple stab wounds. Butler was found wandering on the beach further along the East End shore in the early hours of the morning.

The case has been delayed as a result of Butler’s change of defence counsel and the time it has taken to obtain the necessary psychiatrist reports. While a local doctor has submitted his opinion on Butler’s state of mind, the crown is in disagreement and is now instructing its own psychiatric expert from the UK.

As result, the case was adjourned until October, when the crown expects to have completed its own review of Butler’s mental health in connection with the child’s death.