A Berkeley woman found guilty of the manslaughter of her two-year-old son in 2012 was suffering from significant mental health illnesses in the lead-up to his death, a court has heard.
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Lawyers for the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had been experiencing bouts of post-traumatic stress after revealing to police for the first time earlier that year that she had been sexually abused as a child.
They also said she had ongoing depression, even trying to take her own life a few weeks before her son’s death.
During a sentencing hearing on Friday, defence barrister Winston Terracini, SC, said the woman’s poor mental health had made her time behind bars more onerous than prisoners not suffering such illness.
He said the woman had been bashed a number of times by fellow inmates since her arrest in August 2013.
Mr Terracini sought leniency for his client, noting it was her first time in custody, and said although she had not admitted her guilt, she had conceded that she was ‘‘far from perfect as a mother’’ and that her parenting had fallen ‘‘short of certain community standards’’.
The court heard the woman’s son died in Wollongong Hospital on the afternoon of August 3, 2012, after being rushed to the emergency department when she and his stepfather found him unresponsive in his cot.
An autopsy found he had a ‘‘severe and recent head injury’’, leading to significant bleeding on the brain and a perforated gut, which had developed into a toxic case of peritonitis.
The woman was charged with manslaughter by gross criminal neglect – namely that she failed to get her son timely medical treatment, thereby causing his death.
Doctors who gave evidence at the woman’s NSW Supreme Court trial in February claimed the boy would have been displaying obvious signs of sickness and discomfort prior to his death that would have alerted any reasonable carer to the fact he needed to go to a doctor. However, the woman claimed his symptoms were similar to that of a stomach bug or gastroenteritis.
She had booked him in on the Thursday, the day before his death, to see a doctor the following Monday.
The 12-person jury took less than three hours to find the woman guilty of manslaughter, ultimately agreeing with the Crown case that her failure to get him medical treatment was ‘‘grossly negligent’’ in her duty as his mother and primary carer.
Judge Geoffrey Bellew will sentence the woman on June 9.
