Woman is spared jail for ‘tragic mistake’
Mother gets one-year probation order and is told to seek help for depression after shaking her three-month-old in bid to stop her crying
A mother of five who admitted shaking her three-month-old girl to stop her crying has escaped a jail term, as a District Court judge believed it was an isolated act motivated by desperation.
The 38-year-old has been put on 12 months' probation instead. Judge Amanda Woodcock also ordered her to obtain treatment for depression as directed by her probation officer.
The woman had cited domestic woes - including incest and four ill family members - that drove her into severe depression at the time of the offence, the court heard earlier. She pleaded guilty to one count of ill treatment or neglect of a child, for shaking her youngest girl on October 6 to stop her incessant crying. Doctors found the baby bleeding in the brain and retina.
Woodcock said the baby had recovered well and was developing normally based on a medical report, but the extent of damage to her retina was uncertain.
"The mother made a tragic mistake in her wrongdoing. Luckily, the consequence has not been tragic," the judge said.
The court heard earlier that the woman had two teenage children from her first marriage and three young daughters with her current husband. At the time of the offence, she was troubled by a case of incest that left her son, 19, jailed and the elder daughter, 14, sent to a home. Her three young girls, aged three months to 2-1/2years, and husband, 26, had also fallen ill, the court heard.