A Scottish woman is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of attempting to kill a toddler by repeatedly giving her prescription medication that was never meant for her—an act a judge described as “breathtakingly wicked.”

Laura Docherty was found guilty of attempted murder in December following a trial in Edinburgh, according to multiple reports. The case has since drawn widespread attention for both the prolonged nature of the abuse and the chilling motive prosecutors say drove it.

The court heard that Docherty administered the medication over a period spanning nearly two years, from April 2021 to February 2023. The child was just 2 years old when the incidents began.

The drugs were not prescribed to the girl.

Instead, authorities said, they caused severe physical reactions, including seizures that required urgent medical attention. The repeated hospital visits raised alarms, but for a time, the cause of the child’s condition remained unclear.

Prosecutors argued that Docherty manipulated those moments of crisis, deceiving medical professionals and those around her while continuing to place the child in danger.

Judge Michael O’Grady, who presided over the case, delivered a blunt and scathing assessment of Docherty’s actions.

“Her actions were utterly reckless and breathtakingly wicked,” he said in court, according to reports. “Time and again she deceived doctors and nurses and social workers and showed considerable guile.”

The judge made clear that the child’s survival was not due to any restraint on Docherty’s part, but rather the intervention of medical professionals who were able to treat the effects of the drugs in time.

“The only reason this child is alive today is due to the skill of doctors and paramedics,” O’Grady said.

Perhaps most disturbing, prosecutors suggested there was no clear personal grievance or practical motive behind the abuse. Instead, the court heard that Docherty appeared driven by a desire for attention.

O’Grady echoed that conclusion in his remarks, stating that the acts were carried out “for nothing more than the drama of the moment and the attention you seem to seek at every turn.”

Throughout the proceedings, the judge emphasized the suffering inflicted on the child—not only the physical toll of repeated seizures, but the fear and distress experienced during each episode.

“You must have understood the pain, the fear and the misery you inflicted on this child,” he said. “Indeed you saw and heard it with your own eyes and ears.”

Following the conviction, the court ordered a risk assessment report, a step that could lead to Docherty receiving an Order for Lifelong Restriction. The measure, used in Scotland for the most serious offenders, allows authorities to detain individuals indefinitely, with release dependent on ongoing risk evaluations rather than a fixed sentence.

Docherty is scheduled to be sentenced in June.