Man who held toddler in front of train guilty of attempted murder
Frederick Danquah, 28, tried to kill himself and the two-year-old boy in a murder-suicide attempt after being told that his former partner had entered into a new relationship.
The High Court in Glasgow was told that he held the child, who was in his care, on his shoulders as he climbed on to the line at Garrowhill railway station on the outskirts of Glasgow in July 2023.
Both Danquah and the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, were treated in hospital after they were struck by a train.
He had lodged a special defence, claiming he was suffering from a mental illness which left him unable to evaluate the consequences of his actions.
However, he was found guilty of attempted murder and culpable and reckless conduct at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday.
'Your defence was that you were unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of your actions but the jury believed you had appreciated them,' Tony Kelly, the judge, said. 'This is grave — to cause harm to a child is beyond comprehension. This was described in court as a murder-suicide.'
Kelly ruled that Danquah should be held in prison until he is sentenced. 'In light of what you have been convicted of, you will be remanded in custody as your bail is no longer appropriate,' he said.
The court was told that Danquah and his former partner Justina Paulaskatie, 26, split up in February 2023 but continued to live together.
On the day of the incident she spoke about her new relationship with a mutual colleague from an Amazon warehouse in Lanarkshire. Paulaskatie then made it clear there was no chance of reconciliation.
It prompted Danquah to take the child and post an apparent suicide note on social media. It read: 'I should have tried harder, I never knew what I had until I lost it, too little too late I guess, I can't continue to live in this darkness, I guess this is goodbye.'
Danquah was later spotted by witnesses trying to climb the fence of a footbridge which overlooks the M8 motorway in the Anderston area of Glasgow.
Jurors were also told that Danquah tried to pull himself and the boy over the fence. Danquah was later spoken to by a police officer and allowed to leave the area. He then made his way to Garrowhill railway station, where the incident occurred at about 7.20pm.
The boy was found to have a rucksack on his back with a handwritten note inside it.
The toddler and Danquah were taken to hospital where the boy was found to have suffered surface wounds to his forehead, head, back, face and nose. Danquah sustained fractures to his lower spine and his jaw. Both have since made a full recovery.
Danquah was initially held under observation at the Rowanbank mental health clinic but was later discharged.
Kelly deferred sentence until next month and called for background reports to be compiled.
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