Man jailed for leaving 83-year-old mother to die in squalor while de facto claimed Centrelink payments

A man has been jailed for leaving his 83-year-old mother to die in squalor while his de facto partner claimed Centrelink carer payments.

A man has been jailed for leaving his elderly mother to die in squalor while his de facto partner claimed a carers payment. Picture: iStock

A man has been jailed for leaving his mother to die in squalor while his de facto partner claimed Centrelink carer payments.

The couple, who cannot be identified, were sentenced in the Victorian County Court this morning on a charge of reckless conduct endangering life over the death of the 83-year-old woman in 2013.

Judge John Carmody said the couple’s treatment of the man’s mother was “inhumane”.

“To have her living in the squalid conditions was inhumane and severe neglect of a person who was old, frail and depending on both of you,” he said.

The court previously heard the grandmother who lived with the couple and their children was found wearing a week-old soiled nappy, with skin abscesses and flies buzzing around food scraps.

The grandmother suffered epilepsy, partial paralysis and hearing loss but Judge Carmody said for more than a year leading up to her death she received no medical treatment and her prescriptions weren’t filled.

She weighed just 34kg when she died from bronchial pneumonia

“You callously disregarded your responsibilities for [the grandmother] while at the same time receiving social payments to care for her,” Judge Carmody said in sentencing the de facto partner.

“Your victim was elderly, frail and clearly dependent on you for her care and wellbeing.”

Judge Carmody said the woman was stressed and overwhelmed at the time of the offending because of a Department of Health and Human Services investigation into the welfare of the couple’s five children.

He said the woman had good prospects of rehabilitation and had pleaded guilty at an early state “out of respect for nan”.

In contrast Judge Carmody said the man’s guilty plea reflected his regret not true remorse.

“You were her only child and you did nothing to help or care for her,” he said.

Judge Carmody said the man was of average intelligence which placed his moral culpability higher than his partner’s who was diagnosed as being borderline intellectually disabled.

“You had the responsibility to care for her,” he said.

He said the couple removed the grandmother from a nursing home and the man failed to ensure she had adequate medical treatment.

“You had the primary moral responsibility to look after your mother once she was removed from a nursing home,” Judge Carmody said.

“You were and are the decision maker in the household, you neglected your mother over an extended period of time.”

Judge Carmody sentenced the man to 18 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 12 months.