Negligent carer found guilty of manslaughter launches bid to avoid jail

A woman found guilty of manslaughter after failing to provide proper care for her cancer patient ex-partner has launched a desperate bid to avoid jail.

A woman found guilty of manslaughter after allowing her former partner to wallow covered in faeces and lice while he battled cancer has launched a desperate bid to avoid jail time.

Libby Jade Baker was last year found guilty of manslaughter after a NSW District Court judge found her criminally negligent for failing to provide proper care to Johnathan Young in the months leading up to his death.

Mr Young died on October 16, 2012 – 11 days after he was admitted to Hawkesbury Hospital weighing just 35.8kg and in a condition which alarmed nurses.

Mr Young, 58, spent five months in Baker’s care as he battled rectal and renal cancer and suffered three strokes in the nine months prior to his death.

When a community services worker visited her home in early October, she was overwhelmed by the smell of faeces and rotten flesh and that Mr Young’s skin was “hanging from his bones”, the court previously heard.

Medical personnel were shocked by his condition when he was admitted to hospital, with one nurse saying “he looked dead”, her trial heard.

Baker faced a judge-alone trial before Judge Sweeney and was last year found guilty of manslaughter.

Judge Sweeney noted that Baker had negligently breached her duty of care and failed to provide him with proper food, hygiene and medical attention which led to his death.

Baker is facing up to 25 years in jail, however, the District Court heard on Wednesday she had launched an application to stay her sentencing proceedings, which would mean she would never face jail time.

Libby Baker has applied to stay her sentencing proceedings. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi.

In 2018, a coronial inquest into Mr Young’s death was suspended without a finding and the matter was referred to the Department of Public Prosecutions before Baker was charged the following year.

In her effort to halt the sentence proceedings, her lawyers subpoenaed the crown solicitor’s office for a trove of documents including any files, notes or correspondence relating to her which might relate to the inquest.

The material held by the crown’s office relating to the case was contained in 86 folders, the court heard.

Judge Sweeney on Wednesday afternoon granted the crown’s application to set aside the subpoena, saying it amounted to a “fishing expedition” and noting Baker already had the transcripts of the inquest.

Baker’s application to stay her sentencing proceedings will now be heard on July 8, a whole year after she was found guilty.

The court previously heard Young suffered an alarming weight loss leading up to his death, going from 62kg to 35kg in six months, with experts giving evidence it was not solely due to his cancer.

When Mr Young was admitted to hospital, his eyes were sunken and his body was covered in dark lesions, the court previously heard.

Nurses discovered lice all over his body, including in crawling balls under his armpits, and he had not been showered properly in weeks.

Libby Baker was found guilty of manslaughter over the death of her former partner. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Healthcare workers observed he was severely malnourished with dried faeces all over his legs.

One nurse said she had “not ever seen anyone like that” and another said “he looked dead”.

When applying for a carer’s payment in March 2011, Baker told Centrelink she was volunteering to care for Mr Young because “I couldn’t let him go to a nursing home”.

The court heard evidence Ms Baker was aware of her duties when he was discharged from hospital into her care on May 7, 2012 – including an obligation to seek medical help if she could not manage the task.

In handing down her judgment last year, Judge Sweeney said Baker had breached her duty of care.

“I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused’s omissions in not providing Mr Young with sufficient food and hygiene, pressure wound care and medical attention, which caused his death … involve a high degree of criminal negligence and merit criminal punishment,” she said.