THE loud bang that came from the bedroom of a home at Tarro on an otherwise unremarkable afternoon in June 2018 sounded like a box of books falling to the ground. And then, moments later, a 20-month-old girl was carried from the room. She was lifeless, not responding, floppy and her eyes were rolling back in her head.
At that point, the girl's mother had a choice.
She could call triple-zero, almost certainly triggering further investigation from police as well as Family and Community Services (FACS). Or she could take a risk; monitor the child at home and hope her condition improved. The girl's mother decided to take a risk.
And, as the prosecution said, over the next five hours she put her own self-interest over that of her child's medical needs, breached the duty of care she owed her daughter and failed the "reasonable person test".
The girl's injuries were, at least initially, survivable and in failing to get her medical attention, the mother had significantly contributed to her daughter's death.
On Tuesday, after deliberating for only two hours, a jury found the girl's mother guilty of manslaughter by criminal negligence.
She will be sentenced at a later date. The young girl died about 6pm on June 19, 2018, after earlier that day suffering multiple blunt force trauma injuries at the hands of Timothy Whiteley.
Her injuries included six broken ribs, a punctured lung, bleeding on the brain, facial bruises and lacerations to her liver that led to internal bleeding, among other injuries that were likely inflicted by multiple punches or kicks and occurred in a bedroom out of sight of the girl's mother.
During cross-examination from Crown prosecutor Jillian Kelton, the girl's mother said she only thought it necessary to call an ambulance after she found the girl not breathing. The mother was taken through the girl's presentation throughout the afternoon of her death; from the toddler vomiting or coughing up blood, having a "lowered level of consciousness" and undergoing some sort of CPR to having bruises on her body and blood in her mouth.
"How unwell did she have to get before you thought she'd need medical attention?" Ms Kelton asked the mother.
"I called for help as soon as I thought it was needed and that was when I found her unresponsive," the mother replied. "Prior to that she was okay. She had improved and I didn't think it was needed."
The jury, through their verdict, disagreed.
The mother had failed her daughter and put her own self-interest before the needs of an innocent child.
I called for help as soon as I thought it was needed and that was when I found her unresponsive.
The mother gave evidence.
