WARNING: Disturbing content
A five-year-old girl was repeatedly whacked with a wooden spoon, denied food, called ‘dumb’ and a ‘creepy-crawly’ and even had her head shaved by a woman caring for her in a pattern of ‘reprehensible’ abuse.
Horrific details of the cruelty to the child were revealed during her sentencing at Brisbane District Court on Wednesday.
Chillingly, the court was told it was not the first time the mum had embarked on similar offending.
Despite this, the woman had not subjected other children in her household to the same kind of abuse as the young girl during the same period.
‘There’s no real explanation for the circumstances that bring you back here,’ Chief Judge Brian Devereaux said during his sentencing remarks.
The woman pleaded guilty to a single count of cruelty to a child and multiple other counts of assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and common assault.
Her abuse of the child lasted from February to late May of 2022, Crown prosecutor Zach Kaplan told the court.
Horrific details of the cruelty to the child were revealed during her sentencing at Brisbane District Court on Wednesday
The court was told the girl, who is not one of the woman’s biological children, was repeatedly hit with a wooden spoon, suffering bruises and scars, while being denied food and meals as the other children ate.
Mr Kaplan said the child had come into the woman’s care through a mutual friend in January 2022 following an incident at another home.
He said the woman psychologically abused the girl – calling her a ‘creepy-crawly’ and saying she was ‘dumb’ – in addition to the physical assaults.
The court was told Child Safety became involved in concerns for the girl’s welfare.
The child’s head was shaved when she was returned to her biological parents in May 2022.
‘As opposed to try and work through any type of way to better or help the child, (her) response was to shave the child’s head because she had nits,’ Mr Kaplan said.
When she was taken to hospital, the child had bruises on her face and legs, was thin and walked with a limp while complaining of hunger.
One wound included a 1.5cm scar on her scalp after the woman had hit her with a wooden spoon, along with a bruised eye after the child was hit in the face.
If not for the intervention of Child Safety, the consequences could have been far more dire, the court was told.
‘This is reprehensible conduct,’ Mr Kaplan said.
‘She is a risk to children not only of her own biological bloodline but also of any children she comes into contact with.’
Nicholas Brown, the woman’s defence barrister, said his client had complied with her bail conditions requiring her not to have contact with any of her own children.
He said his client had taken on the child with ‘good intentions’ from her friend but found the child difficult to handle.
Mr Brown said the scenario became ‘too much’ for the woman with other children in the house.
‘She has tried in her way to demonstrate remorse for her conduct since then by complying with her bail conditions, supporting her family both financially and emotionally,’ he said.
‘And (by) otherwise displaying to the outer community she can be a good mother.’
There is no suggestion any of the woman’s other children were subject to abuse.
Judge Devereaux imposed a head sentence of three years’ jail, making the woman eligible for parole by January next year.