Brisbane court hears mother ‘couldn’t be bothered’ to take hurt son to hospital despite medical advice

A mother who allowed her 19-month-old son’s fractured arm to go untreated for up to a week because she was “too tired and couldn’t be bothered sitting in an emergency room” has been sentenced in a Brisbane court.

A QUEENSLAND mother allowed her 19-month-old son’s fractured arm to go untreated for up to a week because she was “too tired and couldn’t be bothered sitting in an emergency room”, a court has heard.

The woman, who can’t be named to protect the boy’s identity, today pleaded guilty to child cruelty in the Brisbane District Court.

Crown prosecutor Bruce Mumford said in June 2017, the now 34-year-old mum-of-four had called the National Home Doctor Service to report her son could not properly move his arm and had a black eye after falling over on concrete the day before.

Despite being told to immediately take the little boy to the hospital, the mum ignored the advice and her son’s “obvious pain” and put him to bed.

“You said you were too buggered and too tired and weren’t in the mood to sit around and wait for doctors,” Judge Jennifer Rosengreen said to the woman.

“It was too much effort for you to bother doing that (getting help for your son).”

Doctors who treated the little boy at the then Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital found the boy was “covered” in bruises over his body and the fracture to his elbow had occurred at least five to seven days before his mother eventually sought help.

“Not surprisingly police spoke to you on that day and you told them the day before on 11 June after arriving at new address, you decided to bathe the complainant and his older brother, you left to find a towel, heard a thud and returned to see the complainant had slipped over and was lying in the bath on his stomach,” Judge Rosengreen told the woman.

“We now know that not to be true.”

The source of the boy’s injuries was not discussed in court but the prosecutor said the woman’s sister had noticed scratches and bruises on the boy’s body in the months before he was taken to hospital with a broken arm.

The woman’s younger brother, who now looks after the boy, said the child was “bruised, battered, confused, neglected and frightened”.

“All because my sister didn’t put her children first,” he said.

“(She was) the one person who decided to bring him into this world and was meant to love him unconditionally.”

The woman was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with immediate parole release.