Babysitter couple sentenced over bashing of 3yo boy
A babysitter who left a toddler with life changing injuries could be out of jail in months and reunited with the daughter she gave birth to in custody.
A babysitter who seriously injured a three-year-old boy and made bizarre claims about how it happened could be released from jail in months.
Xing Tong Shen and her boyfriend Xi Zhang were looking after a sick friend’s son at a Docklands apartment when the pair rushed the boy to hospital on May 8, 2019.
The three-year-old was in a “starfish” position with clenched hands and was “stiff and unconscious” as Zhang carried him out of the apartment.
Shen, 25, initially told a doctor the little boy had fallen from 23-year-old Zhang’s shoulders and hit his head on the wall.
Both pleaded guilty to negligently causing serious injury to the child with Shen admitting she hurt the boy while her boyfriend was complicit in the agreement to discipline him.
He did not injure the boy.
The toddler needed emergency brain surgery and was also found with bruises across his body, fractures to his left arm, a bite mark on his right forearm and potential liver injuries.
He still has reduced motor skills, a severe language disorder and is at risk of cognitive impairment.
“This was a serious injury to a defenceless child that will leave him with permanent cognitive, physical and social disabilities which will impair his quality of life and potential,” County Court Judge Trevor Wraight said on Wednesday.
Prosecutors were unable to say how Shen injured the boy.
The day before he was assaulted a video shows him being sprayed with a liquid as he slept in bed with laughing in the background, according to court documents.
A cleaner at the apartment saw Shen pinch the boy’s lips and tell the toddler: “I will bash you”, according to court documents. The cleaner later heard a bang in the apartment.
Shen gave birth to a daughter last year, who was taken from her and remains in the care of family in China, the court has heard.
Her lawyer previously told the court the impact of this was “profound” and Shen had played no meaningful part in her child’s life since the girl’s birth.
Zhang is the father of the girl, wants to be involved in her life and had good prospects of rehabilitation, the court was told.
Shen was sentenced to two years and three months behind bars and will be eligible for parole after one year and nine months.
Zhang was jailed for two years with a non-parole period of a year-and-a-half.
But the couple have already spent 734 days behind bars and Zhang has completed his sentence while Shen has about three months left of her sentence.
The couple will be deported.