A Hunter mother accused of injecting her daughter with urine while the child was in hospital in Newcastle and Sydney has been acquitted of all charges levelled against her.
Judge Christopher Robison spent more than four hours delivering his not guilty verdicts in Newcastle District Court on Wednesday afternoon.
The mother, a former registered nurse and midwife who cannot be named, sobbed and ran to supporters in the gallery after the decision was delivered, thanking her solicitor Mark Ramsland at the doorway of the courtroom.
"After over two weeks of complicated medical and other evidence, the court today found her not guilty of all charges," Mr Ramsland said in a statement last night.
"The presumption of innocence has not been displaced and she is entitled to be treated as innocent of any wrongdoing."
The mother had been charged with two counts of administering a noxious thing with intent to injure - the Crown alleged she had surreptitiously given her daughter laxatives which made the child sick - and one count of administering a noxious thing that endangered life - the allegation of injecting urine.
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The incidents were alleged to have taken place between 2013 and 2015.
It came after the child presented to hospital on multiple occasions with renal failure and unexplained diarrhear, among other symptoms.
The mother pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On Wednesday, Judge Robison went into detail recounting the mostly medical evidence from the judge-alone trial.
He said the Crown's case had "various strengths and weaknesses" and was circumstantial, which meant all the evidence had to be considered as a whole.
Judge Robison said the Crown had to exclude all reasonable alternative hypotheses in order for the court to find the mother guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
He did not believe the Crown had done so and said there could have been other explanations for the child's condition.
The court heard that a used stool sample jar and syringes were found in the mother's bag at Westmead Children's Hospital, but the child's hospital room was not search and no laxatives were found at the family home.
Judge Robison said the child had been a "very impressive witness indeed" who showed "a display of maturity beyond her young years" while giving evidence from a secure location during the trial.
Mr Ramsland said the criminal proceedings against his client had cost her "dearly".
"Her daughter was removed from her care in 2015," he said.
"Her house had to be sold to fund previous legal representatives. She has lost her ability to carry on in her profession of nursing and midwifery.
"However, today the court has restored her lost reputation."
