How could she?

Stuff reports:

A woman researched “drugs that can kill toddlers” before she laced milk with a toxic concoction and gave it to her young child while he was in hospital.

On Friday, the 35-year-old woman admitted two representative charges of ill-treatment of a child by administering various substances – first at Dunedin Hospital, and then at Starship Children’s Hospital. …

This case is especially horrific. Sometimes parents can’t cope and under pressure do terrible things. Their actions are still terrible and must be punished, but i can understand the pressure.

But this case seems very different. From what I can see the mother poisoned her baby son now once, not twice but at least six times. That is a level of malice and deliberation that is chilling.

Surely the charge should be attempted murder not merely ill-treatment?