13-Year-Old Girl Accused of Killing Mom of 3 Grips Teddy Bear During Court Appearance

The 13-year-old girl accused of murdering a mother of three and then setting a home on fire appeared in court on Wednesday, March 12, for her first hearing.

Authorities are not identifying the girl because she is a minor, but the BBC reports that she “wore a grey jogging top and bottoms, and held a teddy bear with both hands during the hearing.”

The hearing lasted approximately four minutes, and the girl only spoke when asked to confirm her age and date of birth, according to the BBC.

At the end of the proceedings, the judge in the case remanded the girl to a youth detention center ahead of her next court hearing on April 11, the Northamptonshire Police said in a news release.

Police arrived to a Wellingborough home in the early morning hours of March 10 in response to a fire at the residence.

Once inside the home, police discovered the body of a woman they believe was 43-year-old Marta Bednarczyk, a mother of three.

Police arrested the girl on March 12 after a forensic post-mortem investigation allegedly “gave the preliminary cause of [the victim’s] death as being as a result of sharp force injury,” police said in their news release.

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Family and friends of Bednarczyk paid tribute to her in statement released by police.

The matriarch is described as a “very caring woman, a loving mother, and a supportive friend who could never do enough for those she loved.”

Those close to her also noted how she immigrated to the United Kingdom from Poland back in 2012 and spent her days working in a warehouse “in order to bring money home for her family.”

In addition to her three children. she also leaves behind her long-term partner Eugene, to whom she was engaged, say friends.

“She was so loved by all of us and the tragic circumstances in which she died will haunt us forever. We don’t think we will ever come to terms with it,” reads the statement.

“We are heartbroken at the thought of never seeing our lovely Marta again. She will be missed beyond words, and she will never be forgotten.”