A MOTHER accused of murdering her baby daughter is due to stand trial.
Natasha Sultan, 21, is accused of killing five-week-old Amelia-Lilly Sultan-Curtis.
Miss Sultan was due to appear at Hull Crown Court for a preliminary hearing yesterday, but was not brought from prison.
The short hearing went ahead in her absence as dates were set for a plea and case management hearing.
Miss Sultan's legal team told the court the case is set to go to trial.
Her barrister Anil Murray said: "The issue will be whether it was an accident or a deliberate intention.
"At the moment our best estimate in that a trial is likely to finish within two weeks."
The Honorary Recorder of Hull and the East Riding, Judge Michael Mettyear, said it had been judicial policy for High Court judges to hear murder trials involving infants.
A provisional trial date is available in November but if a High Court judge is needed, the case may be delayed until next year.
The plea and case management hearing will be held in August, when Miss Sultan will be expected to enter a formal plea to the charge.
Miss Sultan, of Welton Grove, north Hull, was granted bail in her absence.
Members of Miss Sultan's family were sitting in the public gallery during the five-minute hearing.
As previously reported, Amelia-Lilly died from head injuries at Hull Royal Infirmary on October 8 last year.
It is alleged Miss Sultan murdered the child between October 6 and 9 last year.
After a police investigation lasting seven months, the Crown Prosecution Service authorised police to charge her with murder on Wednesday.
Miss Sultan has shared several photographs of her daughter on her public Facebook page, including a picture of her cradling Amelia-Lilly shortly after she was born.
Alongside one image, posted on December 14 last year, she wrote: "My sweet little angel forever young baby girl mummy and daddy love you more than words can describe R.I.P darling grandad will b looking after u now."
After the charge was announced, a spokesman for Humberside Police said: "The child died of head injuries in October last year. An investigation was launched straight away and inquiries have been taking place since this time.
"The mother was arrested and released on police bail while these inquiries were undertaken."
Amelia-Lilly's funeral was held in January, when she was buried at Northern Cemetery in Chanterlands Avenue, west Hull.
