A young Australian mother attempted to murder her baby son by tying him to a dog leash and hanging him from a clothesline in her garden in southeast Queensland.
The Hervey Bay mother, who was 18 at the time, attempted to murder her 14-month-old son as part of a botched murder-suicide attempt, according to the Brisbane Supreme Court.
The mom gathered her sleeping child in the early hours of August 14, 2019, before attempting to murder him and then planning to commit herself.
But she suddenly changed her mind when she saw her son struggling to breathe as he hung by the leash.
The woman woke up her neighbours with ‘blood curdling screams’, shouting ‘save my baby’ and ‘someone please help my baby’.
After calling triple zero, a neighbour jumped the fence and grabbed the baby who had been suspended for about 30 seconds.
He removed the leash from the ‘pale’ boy and attempted CPR until he heard the child ‘make a noise’, crown prosecutor Caroline Marco told the Supreme Court in Brisbane.
The child was ‘unresponsive’ when paramedics arrived and he was placed on life support for 48 hours, spending 12 days overall in hospital.
He has since made a full recovery.
‘He is a regular three-year-old, curious, inquisitive, exceptionally smart – he is in good health,’ the court was told.
The mother was in a ‘state of acute psychological distress’ at the time of the incident and had been triggered by a social media post from her ‘unsupportive’ ex-partner, the boy’s father, the court heard.
The mother ‘couldn’t bear the thought of her child being raised by another woman in her absence’ and messaged her current partner saying: ‘Goodbye … me and my son will be gone soon’.
Justice Freeburn described the incident involving the ‘defenceless and vulnerable’ child as terrible.
‘Without intervention, he would have died,’ he said.
The young woman cannot be named to protect the identity of her son, who has made a full recovery.
The court heard the mother became overwhelmed and extremely distressed before she tried to kill the boy.
The mother’s defence lawyer said she was suffering with mental health issues and described it as a ‘truly tragic case’.
The case was referred to the Mental Health Court in 2020 where it was ruled the young mother was fit to stand trial on one charge of attempted murder (domestic violence offence).
The court heard she was experiencing depression and PTSD symptoms and had taken alcohol and various medications before the attempted murder-suicide.
Justice Freeburn sentenced the woman, now aged 21, to five years in jail but she will be eligible for parole in 12 months.