A mother who was dubbed “friendly” by her neighbors has been arrested on suspicion of her daughter’s murder.
5-year-old Alijah Thomas from London, UK, was found dead at her family’s $1 million Ealing home on September 14 during a police welfare check.
Following the young girl’s death, her mother, 41-year-old Martina Madarova, was arrested and charged with murder. It has since also been revealed that the girl died from compression of the neck.
While the mother pleaded guilty to manslaughter during her arraignment, she pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. She now remains in custody while awaiting her next court appearance.
In the meanwhile, the woman’s neighbors have spoken out and revealed their shock over the young girl’s premature death.
“I’ve known the family for about three years – the mother is from the Czech Republic and he is from Jamaica. She was friendly with me and they were always good to me. I’m so shocked because she was such a lovely little girl. She was shy and didn’t always answer me,” a female neighbor, who chose to remain anonymous, said.
“Her mother never had a cross word with her daughter and always spoke to her in a friendly way. She was always well dressed and looked after from what I could see.
“When I saw them last year, they always seemed friendly. Her husband’s mother came and stayed with them during lockdown.”
While the neighbor revealed that Madarova and her husband had had arguments on occasions, she said they “always seemed to make up.”
Another neighbor, Lorraine Clifford, added: “I’m a carer and saw four police cars pull up and two ambulances. I thought, there must be a body in there because I saw the forensics. It’s just so sad because it’s a child.
“The police were questioning what I guess was the parents on the wall. It didn’t seem like the police were angry or anything like that. It just seemed like they were separating them and caring for them.”
The case remains under investigation.
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