Grandfather defends wife in abuse case at Hobart court

A grandfather has defended his wife in an abuse case alleging depraved punishments of her four grandchildren. Here’s what he said.

A Hobart court is hearing how a grandmother allegedly abused her four grandchildren over 18 months. Photo: iStock

The husband of the Hobart grandmother who has pleaded guilty to the ill-treatment of her grandson has made a fiery appearance in court and denied knowledge of any wrongdoing in his home.

“How dare you,” he responded to crown prosecutor Linda Mason when she suggested a video he filmed of the grandson’s self-harming was done to “cover-up” his wife’s abuse of the child.

The hearing taking place in Tasmania’s Supreme Court centres around the actions of the grandmother, now aged in her 70s, and her treatment of four grandchildren in her care, in particular a 13-year-old boy.

Over three weeks, the court has heard allegations and seen video evidence that over an eighth-month period the women dolled out a series of increasingly depraved “punishments” to the vulnerable children.

These included making them stand for days at a time, forcing them to wear nappies at home and to school, and making one child eat rubbish and his own vomit.

On Tuesday the woman’s husband took to the stand and appeared exasperated and even hostile at times under questioning by the prosecution.

Unusually, the man also laughed many times throughout the day.

The man said he and his wife took in the four children “to help them” but from the get-go the 13 year-old boy proved “defiant”, “arrogant” and “questioning of our beliefs”.

“He was always up and down. His mood was always up and down,” the man said.

Supreme Court of Tasmania, Salamanca Place, Hobart, Tasmania. Picture: Richard Jupe

The man described a multitude of draconian household routines including a “plaque test” his wife would administer to the children to make sure they had brushed their teeth properly.

He appeared unmoved by the children’s deprived background and said he had little understanding of their symptoms of trauma and PTSD after being uplifted by interstate child services following alleged drug-use and family violence in their home.

“It was beyond my comprehension what she was trying to do or achieve,” the man said of toileting problems by the youngest child, a preschooler.

He described the household descending further and further into chaos as he and his wife struggled with how to manage the behaviour of the four children, and in particular the male adolescent.

Behavioural problems mentioned by the couple include bed-wetting, stealing food, fighting among the siblings and poor hygiene practices.

Throughout his testimony the grandfather repeatedly asserted that his family were given “no help”, despite significant evidence from the prosecution that the couple actively resisted attempts by authorities to support them, and forbid the children from telling anyone about their home life.

They also received around $1700 a month for their care from the government.

“We were at our wits end … out of our minds, what the hell are we going to do?” the man said.

“That’s the desperation we were getting too.”

The man admitted to erecting a series of CCTV cameras to watch the children, including in their bedrooms, but said he did it to help his wife “work smarter” as she had a bad knee and it was hard for her to use stairs.

He also supported his wife’s decision to send two of the children to school in a nappy – including the 13-year-old boy.

“I supported it by not disagreeing with it,” the man said, adding that it was largely his wife who was in charge of discipline and care for the children as we worked interstate on “swings”.

“At the end, we were coming to the end of our capabilities to look after them.”

The man also admitted to filming a disturbing video which shows the 13-year-old boy standing in his nappy in the kitchen repeatedly hitting himself.

The man said he shot the video as “evidence” to prove the child was self-harming, but crown prosecutor Mason suggested it was filmed to cover- up his wife’s abuse of the child.

When asked why they didn’t take the child to hospital for such severe self-harm, the grandfather said the wait in emergency would be “at least six hours”.

Emails sent to the boy’s high school explaining his bruises as self-harm were written by the Grandfather while he was interstate for work.

He laughed at the prosecution’s suggestion that he should have tested his wife’s “veracity” when she said the boy was beating himself.

“I believe my wife, we’ve been married for 49 years, I would believe my wife,” the man said.

“Of course I stand by my wife.”