Logan woman brutally tortured 3YO son, police allege

Witnesses told the court they allegedly saw the woman punch her young son in the face, slam his head into the fridge and throw him into a basket filled with glass.

Police allege a Logan woman brutally tortured her three-year-old son while drunk on home-brew bourbon, punching him in the face, slamming the fridge door into his head and throwing him into a laundry basket filled with glass.

Witnesses of the alleged abuse were cross-examined during a committal hearing at the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Friday, where they recounted the shocking alleged events of June 19, 2020.

The defendant, a 30-year-old Papua New Guinea woman who resides in Beenleigh, stands accused of one count of assault occasioning bodily harm, two counts of common assault and one count of torture.

She has yet to enter a plea.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Friday.

Witness Karalee Kirk told the court she started drinking home-brew bourbon at her Woodridge home with the woman at around 10am.

The court heard spirits were initially high - Neighbours and friends visited, the defendant sung songs and there was laughing and conversation around the dinner table.

Ms Kirk said the woman and her young son planned to stay the night and the woman hoped to use the opportunity to have intercourse with Ms Kirk’s neighbour.

“Everything was fine, until (the neighbour) didn’t want to have sex,” Ms Kirk told the court.

The court heard the rejection, that came slightly after dinner, created a noticeable shift in atmosphere.

The woman allegedly began to yell at her son and, according to the witness account, backhanded him with such force he flew through the air and into a laundry basket filled with glassware.

One witness told the court she thought the woman had killed her son at one point during the evening.

“I thought the kid was dead,” Ms Kirk said.

“The way he landed … I don’t know how he came out of it without any scratches, I was very concerned for him.”

Unable to handle the tension and unsure of what to do, Ms Kirk told the court she escaped to the front porch for a cigarette.

During that time her partner, Kaysey Amai, remained in the room with the woman and her child.

When Ms Amai took the stand, she told the court the woman pulled the boy up by his arm, walked him to the fridge and asked him to pick out something he wanted.

The boy stood, looking into the fridge, and replied in a language Ms Amai did not understand.

The defendant allegedly responded by punching the toddler, three to four times, on the side of the jaw.

Ms Amai leapt up from the couch to try to stop the woman and was allegedly told, “This is how we deal with little s***s in my country”.

This account differed from Ms Kirk’s version of events.

Ms Kirk told the court she finished her cigarette, re-entered the house and saw the woman repeatedly slamming the fridge door onto her son’s head.

“He was screaming,” Ms Kirk said.

“We have a ding in our fridge door now, she bent it.”

The court heard the beatings continued into the spare room, where one witness alleged the woman struck the child over the head with his shoes, and outside, where both witnesses recalled seeing the woman violently shake the boy back and forth for upwards of a minute as he wailed.

“I lost it,” Ms Kirk said.

Ms Kirk said she grabbed the child from his mother’s arms, prompting a scuffle that saw the defendant “grab” at him, causing him to “flip out of (Ms Kirk’s) arms and over the (first floor) veranda”.

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“It’s not very high,” Ms Kirk said.

“But we had a metal gate there.”

The commotion drew the attention of a nearby neighbour who assisted Ms Kirk and Ms Amai in helping the young boy escape through the backyard and into one of the nearby homes, where police were finally called.

The court heard that by the time police arrived the boy was bleeding profusely from the mouth and hyperventilating.

The matter was committed to the District Court for trial and the woman was granted bail on the condition she surrender her passport, have no contact with the witnesses and only have contact with the child under the direct supervision of a social worker.