Mother charged with murder

(CNS): The mother of six year old Bethany Butler has been charged with the child’s murder. Tamara Butler (37) appeared in summary court Friday lunchtime when the case was transmitted to the Grand Court and Butler remanded in custody to Fairbanks until 28 November. Cheryll Richards QC, told the court, presided over by the chief magistrate Nova Hall,  that there was a strong circumstantial case against Butler as she gave a brief summary and described some of the events that led up to the murder the night before at the Butler family home from evidence given by Butler's husband. Butler was said to have shaved her own head and attempted to shave her daughter’s head as well.

Butler was arrested by police in the early morning hours of Monday 27 October along the Queen’s Highway, in East End after Bethany’s body was found wrapped in a blanket in the passenger seat of her mother’s car she had sustained multiple stab wounds and her head had also been shaved.

Butler remained calm and silent throughout the short committal hearing and sat in the dock wearing a tailored black suit and a hair piece. Although remanded to the women’s prison at Fairbanks the court heard that Butler would be undergoing a psychiatric examination at the George Town Hospital this week, where she had been detained since her arrest under the mental health act.