Darwin Navy wife escapes jail time over almost fatal stomping of toddler
A young mum who inflicted severe injuries on her toddler by stomping on the little girl for making a mess in the kitchen has avoided jail time.
The Darwin mother-of-two, 26, narrowly avoided a stint behind bars after she pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to unlawfully causing harm.
Her two-year old-girl suffered internal bleeding and a lacerated liver in the ‘deeply shocking’ incident in July 2021 that resulted in the breakdown of the woman’s marriage with the child’s father, who was forced to quit his career in the navy.
The court heard 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, the NT News reported.
A young Navy wife narrowly avoided jail time after inflicting serious injuries on her daughter (stock image)
Judge Judith Kelly told the court 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 court heard the woman’s panicked screams woke her husband and admitted to him she had stomped on the toddler because ‘the children kept getting into everything and were destroying (her) stuff’.
The man rushed his little girl to Royal Darwin Hospital, where the toddler spent the next four nights.
‘Without the treatment of fluid resuscitation and close monitoring, there was a risk that your daughter could have died,’ Justice Kelly told the mother.
The court heard the woman suffered 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 mental health issues as the reason given to the police.
The mum stomped on her toddler for making a mess with biscuits and crisps (stock image)
The court heard the attack had a ‘profound’ effect on both young children while their father was forced to quit his naval career.
‘For a mother to hurt her infant child is deeply shocking,’ Justice Kelly told the woman.
‘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 judge acknowledged the mother’s remorse and ‘exceptional circumstances’ who co-operated with police and had been of good character prior to the incident.
The mother’s two-year and three months jail sentence was fully suspended.
She’s now getting counselling to treat and manage her mental health and anger issues, the court heard.
The ‘barely conscious’ toddler was rushed to Royal Darwin Hospital (pictured), where she was internal bleeding and a lacerated liver
