Mother who STOMPED on daughter, 2, for making a mess and left her with a lacerated liver AVOIDS jail
DARWIN, AUSTRALIA: A mother who stomped on her two-year-old daughter for making a mess in the kitchen has avoided jail time. The 26-year-old Darwin mother of two young children, almost killed her daughter as she pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to unlawfully causing harm. Her daughter suffered from internal bleeding and a lacerated liver in the 'deeply shocking' accident in July 2021. Judge Judith Kelly informed the court that the woman stomped on her daughter and briefly left the room before returning to find the girl lying on the floor ‘barely conscious’ and turning blue. The mother's two-year and three months jail sentence was fully suspended.
The court heard the woman’s panicked screams that woke her husband and admitted to him that she had stomped on the toddler because "the children kept getting into everything and were destroying (her) stuff." The woman, whose identity has been suppressed, erupted into rage after waking one morning to a mess her daughter and older son had made with biscuits and potato crisps in their home. The little girl had also rummaged through a parcel her mother was planning to post. Her husband rushed their daughter to Royal Darwin Hospital, where the toddler spent the next four nights recovering. "Without the treatment of fluid resuscitation and close monitoring, there was a risk that your daughter could have died," the judge told the mother.
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The court heard that the woman suffered from PTSD, post-natal depression and anxiety after the toddler’s birth and that her marriage ‘had unhappiness.’ She spent several nights in the hospital’s psych ward after the incident and blamed her mental health issues for the incident. "For a mother to aching her baby child is acutely shocking," the judge informed the woman, adding, "Children have a right and an expectation of receiving both love and protection from their parents and, need I say, especially from their mother."
The court heard the attack had a profound effect on both young children while their father was forced to quit his naval career. She's now accepting counselling to manage her mental health and anger issues, the court heard.
If you or anyone you know suspects child abuse, you are urged to immediately call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential and the hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.