Toowoomba woman who waited for God to heal her gravely ill daughter jailed

A Toowoomba woman who declined to get medical treatment for her gravely ill six-year-old told the police she “would do the same again" before she was sentenced to prison. 

The Toowoomba Hospital registered nurse thought the little girl was dead when she was brought into the Emergency Department.

A Toowoomba woman who declined to get medical treatment for her gravely ill six-year-old daughter because of her religious beliefs has been jailed for 18 months.

After a three-day trial, the Toowoomba District Court jury took less than one hour to return a verdict of guilty on a charge of failing to provide the necessaries of life.

The 46-year-old woman, who is not named to protect the identity of the child, had pleaded not guilty.

She represented herself throughout the trial.

In her closing address to the jury, she said she knew her daughter was “quite sick” but she believed in every word of the Bible.

In the Bible, God had said he would heal and she told the court she believed God would heal her daughter.

“I’ve never had to take my children or myself to a doctor because he (God) has promised healing for us,” she said.

“I see the hand of God in this the whole way regardless of what it looks like.”

The court heard the girl had lost significant weight, was vomiting and at times suffered incontinence and was often thirsty in the weeks leading up to her hospitalisation.

Her father, who did not share his wife’s religious beliefs, had to carry the girl to the toilet the night before he eventually took her to hospital, the court heard.

The registered nurse who received the girl at Toowoomba Hospital told the court she thought the girl was dead.

She weighed just 13kg when she would be expected to weigh at least 20kg.

Medical staff had to resuscitate the girl who was suffering a range of complications from undiagnosed diabetes.

Her condition was so serious she had to be placed on life support and she spent five days in intensive care.

She was fed via a nasogastric tube for nine days.

Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie said the mother of eight had a duty of care for her daughter and her failing to get medical treatment for her endangered her daughter’s life.

Ms Petrie accepted the woman was a loving mother but said she couldn’t “play chicken in the name of faith”.

“The cloak of faith doesn’t abdicate their duty (of care).”

Through tears, the woman said she had seven of her eight children at home and that her husband was not a “hands on” father.

“I try to do everything right in my life, that’s why I have no criminal history,” she said.

The court heard the child had since made a full recovery and that her father took her to medical appointments.

Judge Jennifer Rosengren said the woman had shown no remorse.

“It is of some concern you told police you would do the same again even after knowing the dire condition your daughter was in,” she said.

Judge Rosengren sentenced the woman to 18 months in jail but ordered she be released on parole after having served five months.

The woman’s husband at an earlier hearing pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced to six months in jail, wholly suspended for 12 months.