Child killer mum Heidi Strbak to be resentenced over Tyrell Cobb death after High Court appeal

Killer mum Heidi Strbak will be resentenced over death of her four-year-old son Tyrell Cobb after she successfully appealed her nine-year jail sentence in the High Court.

KILLER mum Heidi Strbak has had her sentence for the death of her four-year-old son Tyrell Cobb quashed by Australia’s highest court.

The Queensland mum was in 2017 jailed for nine years’ by the Brisbane Supreme Court after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of her Tyrell.

The little boy died a long and agonising death on the Gold Coast in 2009.

Strbak contested the allegation she inflicted a fatal blow to his abdomen.

Heidi Strbak has won her High Court appeal over her sentence for the death of her son Tyrell Cobb. (AAP Image/Glenn Hunt)

The blow led to the contents of his stomach leaking and internal bleeding, which caused his death.

Her defence team argued there was no direct evidence against her or co-accused Matthew Scown — a former partner and the boy’s stepfather — but said the circumstantial case against him was stronger.

In sentencing her to nine years’ jail, Justice Peter Applegarth found there was “a compelling circumstantial case that Strbak inflicted serious injuries that weekend on her son, including the fatal injuries”.

“… There is no compelling evidence that Scown inflicted the fatal injuries that weekend,” he said.

After unsuccessfully appealing this finding to the Queensland Court of Appeal, Strbak made a last-ditch to the High Court of Australia to attempt to have her sentence reduced.

The full court today allowed the appeal and set aside her sentence from December 2017.

Strbak will now be re-sentenced in a Queensland court but her conviction stands after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

She argued the sentencing judge should not have concluded she inflicted the fatal blows to the child, which caused his death.

Strbak’s defence barrister Saul Holt argued there was an error in Justice Applegarth’s reasoning, namely that he drew an adverse inference from the fact Strbak did not give evidence in her contested sentencing hearing.

Tyrell Cobb.

“Notwithstanding his Honour’s meticulous review of a large body of evidence, the determination of at least some contested facts adversely to the appellant took into account her failure to give sworn evidence at the sentence hearing,” the judgment handed down this morning read.

“... It cannot be said that the findings respecting the appellant’s callous failure to seek prompt treatment for Tyrell’s arm injury and instances in which she subjected him to physical violence were not material to the ultimate conclusion that she inflicted the fatal injuries.”

Strbak would have been eligible for parole in October 2021 had she not won her appeal today.

Matthew Scown was sentenced to four years’ jail but walked free after serving three years on remand. Picture: Dave Hunt/AAP

Scown sparked controversy when he walked from court on a four-year suspended sentence, after serving almost three years behind bars, in October after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds he did not provide medical assistance for the child.

Scown made headlines when he grinned outside court after receiving a reduced sentence for testifying against Strbak.

He was sentenced to four years’ jail but was released immediately after serving almost three years on remand.

Queensland laws for child killers have since been overhauled after public outrage following this and other cases.

The new laws followed a large-scale review into child manslaughter sentences in the state.

Originally published as Child killer mum Heidi Strbak to be resentenced over Tyrell Cobb death after High Court appeal