A 14-month-old boy spent two days with life support after his mother tied a strap around his neck and tried to hang him, a court said.
A 21-year-old woman has been jailed after trying to kill her young son by hanging him from a clothesline in the backyard of his home in south-east Queensland.
In the early hours of August 14, 2019, the woman reunited her sleeping son, before attempting to kill him and take his own life.
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But when she saw her son struggling to breathe, the woman’s “curdled blood screams” woke her neighbors.
After calling triple-0, a neighbor jumped the fence and grabbed the baby who had been suspended for about 30 seconds.
He removed the strap from the “pale” boy and tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation until he heard the boy “making noise,” Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco told the Brisbane Supreme Court.
The boy “did not respond” when paramedics arrived and was placed in life support for 48 hours, spending a total of 12 days in hospital.
He has since fully recovered.
“He’s a normal three-year-old boy, curious, curious, exceptionally intelligent; he’s in good health,” the court said.
The mother was in a “state of acute psychological distress” at the time of the incident and had been provoked by a post on social media of her “unsupportive” ex-partner, the boy’s father, according to the court.
The mother “couldn’t stand the thought of her son being raised by another woman in her absence” and sent a message to her current partner saying, “Goodbye … my son and I are leaving soon.” .
Judge Paul Freeburn described the incident of the “helpless and vulnerable” child as terrible.
“Without intervention … he would have died,” he said.
After considering his special circumstances, he sentenced his mother to five years in prison on a charge of attempted murder (domestic violence).
The woman, who had pleaded guilty, is entitled to parole in 12 months.
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