07/02/2023

Hit, beaten and starved: Mum’s horrific 7-month abuse of her own children

Three children, all no older than 10, were subjected to seven months of excruciating violence at the hands of their own mother, her partner and each other.The Moreton Bay mother of the children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Monday to three counts of torture inflicted between July 2017 and February 2018.
Details of the horrific abuse she and her partner inflicted on the children were revealed to the court ahead of her sentencing on Tuesday.
Crown prosecutor Toby Corsbie told the court the mother and her partner subjected the three children to “gratuitous inflictions of violence and pain” at their Moreton Bay island home over the seven months.
The children were hit, beaten with belts and spoons, confined to their rooms for hours and denied food, sometimes for more than a week.
Mr Corsbie said the most serious punishment, called ‘The Wall’, involved the children facing a wall with their hands raised above their heads.
They would then be struck by the parents, or the other children at their parents’ direction, often for hours at a time.
The eldest boy, 10 at the time, was sometimes made to hold weights during this cruel procedure.
In February, the eldest boy was kept home from school after a weekend of beatings from the mother and her partner.
When he returned, the boy’s visible injuries were alerted to authorities.
“Ultimately, he (the boy) had physical violence inflicted on every surface of his body”,” Mr Corsbie said.
The mother’s partner is awaiting trial for his offending.
Mr Corsbie said the torture had “horrific emotional consequences” for the young children and all three were at first reluctant to speak to officers.
“One of the children had told police she had been told not to speak to them,” Mr Corsbie said.
The mother’s defence lawyer, Patrick Wilson, told the court his client had a difficult life after being kicked out of home at an early age and struggling with multiple abusive relationships.
He said the mother was now seeking professional help, including drug and alcohol counselling, and had undertaken multiple parenting courses.
“She has suffered at the hands of these men in her relationships… the children observed violence directed towards her by the partner,” Mr Wilson said.
“They identified she seemed to be operating under his influence.”
Judge Geraldine Dann adjourned the matter for sentencing on Tuesday and remanded the woman in custody.
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