South Burnett mum of six sentenced for “appalling” assault on 10-year-old daughter

A mother of six took who left her children unsupervised to go out with her drinking buddies became enraged after finding her children awake when she came home, busting open her little girl’s head after she called her “Mum”.

A mother of six who left her kids home alone to go drinking until 4.30am, busted open her 10-year-old daughter’s head after coming home to find the children awake.

Police were called to a South Burnett property in the early hours of July 8, where they discovered an injured child with a towel wrapped around her head.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Barry Stevens said officers spoke to the little girl who said her mother returned home drunk and hit her in the back of the head because she called her “Mum”.

She was left with a 15mm long and 2mm gash to the head, and swelling to her scalp.

The woman claimed at the time it was an accident.

Lawyer Mark Oliver said his client was very drunk at the time at the time of the assault and had returned home angry after a fight with her friends.

“She had gotten into an argument with the people she’d been drinking with and when she got home the children were still awake,” Mr Oliver said.

“She was annoyed and took it out on the kids.”

Magistrate Andrew Sinclair said the fact that the mother left the children unsupervised while she drank until the early hours of the morning was “appalling in itself”.

“It's very difficult to hear someone describe themselves as a mother and a carer when the way they spent their parenting money is drinking themselves into oblivion and then coming home and striking their children,” he said.

“This is not an acceptable way of living.

“What it does is it breeds another generation of children who are exposed to domestic violence, drug abuse, and alcohol abuse, and perpetuates the problem.

“There are no circumstances which justify striking a child, let alone striking a child to the head simply because you’re annoyed with other people.”

The mother pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm and was sentenced to 12 months in jail with immediate parole.