Woman cradles baby doll as court hears of Facebook death threats

Pushing a pram with a doll inside it into a Qld court, a mother of six then cradled the bogus baby as her chilling “burn alive” death threats and boasts were revealed.

Marteaka Browne entered court with a pram and a baby doll, answering to serious death threats among a string of other offenses. Picture: social media

A mum of six threatened to burn a woman alive and later bragged about how she’d “get off” her charges.

When it came time to answer for her crimes, the unsettling behaviour continued as Marteaka Kathleen April Browne arrived at Gympie Magistrates Court on Monday pushing a pram with a baby doll inside.

The court heard Browne, 31, had committed a series of offences between May 2023 and January 2025.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Paul Cramp alleged that between 7pm and 8pm on May 25, 2023, Browne began texting a woman on Facebook Messenger who was asking to remove property from her home.

The conversation was initially “good natured”, Sgt Cramp said, but quickly descended into highly aggressive threats.

“How about I’ll come burn youse (sic) all alive outside the house and stand there and laugh as you all die,” Browne was said to have texted while she said she was under the influence of methamphetamine and alcohol.

Browne called police officers “f*****s” and “c***s” when they visited her camping site where she had been accused of overstaying. Picture: social media.

“You need to burn in hell, I’m on my way to burn the house to the ground, have fun dying you low life sl**,” another text read.

People later spoke to Browne and said she was “completely open and arrogant” and claimed she never intended to follow through on her threats, Sgt Cramp said.

He told the court Ms Browne said to her support person “I don’t care about the charges because I know I can get off.”

In January 2025, police attended a park in Gympie after people had complained Browne, homeless at the time, had been illegally camping for an extended period.

While police were questioning others at the park, Ms Browne arrived in her car and reversed towards the officers, the court heard.

She was highly agitated and threw her belongings around, upended a camping chair, and referred to the officers as “f*****s and c***s,” Sgt Cramp said.

Magistrate Hughes said Browne’s problematic upbringing had adversely affected her in later life.

The court heard Browne’s grandfather held a gun to her head when she was three years old, and both herself and her mother had struggled with severe mental health issues.

It also heard Browne was a First Nation’s woman, one of 16 siblings, and her children did not live with her.

Magistrate Hughes said Ms Browne had been homeless for three years, had never worked, and was expressing pent up frustration when she sent her threatening texts.

He also accepted Ms Browne’s moral culpability was reduced because of her poor mental health.

For her threats to kill using Facebook Messenger, to which Browne pleaded guilty, she was discharged without proceeding to a conviction, granted good behaviour, and given 12 months' probation.

She also pleaded guilty to public nuisance and another charge and was given another 12 months' probation, to be served concurrently.

Again, convictions were not recorded.

Originally published as Woman cradles baby doll as court hears of Facebook death threats