Kaziah Murphy: Alice Springs woman threatens to throw baby at security during drunk meltdown

A Central Australian woman in the grips of an alcohol addiction used her three-month-old daughter as a battering ram at Alice Springs Hospital amid a dispute with security guards, a court has heard.

Alice Springs woman Kaziah Murphy, 24. Picture: Facebook

A Central Australian woman has been released from custody and ordered into rehabilitation after a meltdown at Alice Springs Hospital where she used her three-month-old daughter as a battering ram against security guards and almost let her pram roll down a stairwell.

Kaziah Murphy, who was aged 23 at the time of her offending last year, pleaded guilty to charges of recklessly endangering serious harm, resisting police, and breaching bail.

The substantive offending occurred on May 10, 2023, her sentencing hearing before Darwin Supreme Court Justice Sonia Brownhill on October 8 heard.

Alice Springs woman Kaziah Murphy, 24. Picture: Facebook

According to Justice Brownhill, Murphy was at the hospital with another woman (both were intoxicated) and three-month-old daughter when the other woman became involved in a dispute, forcing the intervention of security.

Murphy picked her baby up from her pram and “began pushing her against the security and hospital staff with force,” all the while saying, “You’ll hurt my baby. Stop it, you’ll hurt my baby. Don’t f----n’ hurt my baby.”

A doctor was concerned the baby’s head was not supported while Murphy was pressing her against the staff and security officers, the court heard.

Murphy returned her baby to the pram, but then went back to have another go at the people trying to intervene, with the unattended pram coming perilously close to rolling down a stairwell.

She then returned for her baby and pushed the little girl into the security staff, warning them, “I’ll throw my f----n’ baby at you”.

Murphy dropped to the ground clutching the baby, leading the doctor to fear the baby would be crushed.

“You then held the victim like a football and yelled, ‘I’m going to throw my baby at you’ in an aggressive manner,” Justice Brownhill said.

Murphy recklessly endangered serious harm to her three-month-old baby at Alice Springs Hospital, the court heard. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Police attended and tried to arrest the other woman, the court heard, but turned their attention to Murphy when she again began brandishing her baby at them like a shield.

The officers went to arrest Murphy, but she placed her mouth over the baby’s head, causing the officers to fear she would bite the little girl, and they backed off.

Murphy then passed her daughter to an officer, saying, “Here, take it.”

The girl was taken inside the hospital to be assessed, but Murphy flew into a rage at her disappearance.

“Where’s my f----n’ daughter? Where is it? I want my f---n’ daughter,” Murphy said, according to Justice Brownhill.

Murphy was granted bail but taken into custody on July 24 after becoming intoxicated in breach of her bail conditions.

The court heard Murphy, a Nyangatjatjara/Pitjantjatjara woman who grew up at Docker River in the Territory’s far southwest, had a good childhood, attended high school and formerly worked in aged care at Mutitjulu.

However, the court heard after meeting her domestically violent partner, who beat, coerced and controlled her, the defendant’s life began to spiral and she developed a significant alcohol addiction.

Justice Brownhill said she considered Murphy’s chances of rehabilitating herself to be “fair”, provided she managed her alcohol addiction.

Murphy was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment, backdated to her remand in custody on July 24.

She was released from custody on a suspended sentence, conditional upon her entering the CAAAPU residential rehabilitation facility in Alice Springs and being under the direction of a Probation and Parole officer for 14 months.