Ballarat mother faces court after allegedly threatening partner with bar stool and saying she would ‘cook’ baby

A Ballarat woman claimed she was “up against an evil machine” after she allegedly drove a car with a “distressed” six-month-old unrestrained in her lap and threatened to cook the boy on the stove.

A woman has faced Ballarat Magistrates’ Court faces charges of making a threat to kill, unlawful assault, and more.

A Ballarat woman who allegedly threatened to hit her ex-boyfriend with a bar stool before saying she would “cook” their child has applied for bail for the fourth time in less than three months.

The woman, who cannot be named, claimed she was “up against an evil machine” after she allegedly repeatedly struck her ex-partner in the temple with a mobile phone, taunted him with a teddy bear, drove a car with their distressed six-month-old child in her lap, and then photographed the baby in a frying pan.

The Ballarat Magistrates’ Court heard on Wednesday that in 2023, the woman allegedly yelled and screamed at her then-partner and their children while they were driving home from a trip to the beach.

She bought a bottle of wine, which she drank throughout the night and continued arguing.

The partner eventually removed the six-month-old boy from the woman and asked her if she would “please leave”.

“No, you leave,” she told him, and he did.

The woman then texted the boyfriend, calling him a “woman basher”.

When he returned, he prepared a bottle to feed one of the children, when the woman allegedly used his own phone to hit him across the temple three to four times.

He lay down and the woman allegedly tried to provoke him by raising a bar stool above her head – to which the man said, “Please don’t hit me.” – and shoving a teddy bear into his face.

Afterwards, he left the house.

The woman appeared for a bail hearing at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

But just after 1am the next morning, the woman allegedly sent the man a video of their crying six-month-old on her lap in a car she was driving.

She drove around the estate honking the car horn.

When she returned, she allegedly sent her partner a photo of their baby in a frying pan on the stove.

The court heard the child was in “visible distress”.

“I’ll cook the c--t,” the woman allegedly said, threatening to “blow this whole place to ash”.

“Thirty seconds or I kill it.

“Take the baby or I will kill it.”

She then allegedly took a photo of the infant on the nature strip, saying he was waiting.

When the boyfriend arrived, the woman told him to delete the messages she had sent, but he refused unless she sought mental help.

She asked if she could hold the boy again, which the man agreed to as long as she didn’t hurt him, but she then allegedly squeezed the infant’s head.

The police arrived and she was arrested.

It is the fourth time in less than three months the woman has applied for bail.

She said she sent the messages so her partner would return to help with the children and that she thought she was saving his life as he had mentioned suicide as he left the home earlier.

The woman was granted bail at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court after the alleged offending, but allegedly breached her curfew and other conditions by phoning and texting her former partner, live-streaming herself at The Deck nightclub, and talking about her ex-partner and children on Facebook.

She also attended a Ballarat home where two of her children resided and was heard shouting “mummy’s here” before the police were called.

During a bail application on Wednesday, the woman’s lawyer, Michelle Kilburn, said her client had suitable accommodation options and could be suitable for certain therapeutic court programs.

Prosecution lawyer Alex Turner argued that she still posed an unacceptable risk of committing further offences and endangering the public.

Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz called the allegations “gravely serious” and ordered the woman be further assessed before a decision be made about her bail.

She will return to court later this month.