Jess Hardiman
A mum has gone on trial for allegedly ‘trying to murder’ her severely disabled daughter while her husband and kids were at the beach.
The unnamed mother admitted to injecting her daughter with a lethal dose of insulin in 2022, knowing it could kill her.
Her child was born with a rare genetic disorder and is unable to walk, talk or eat normally.
However, the 42-year-old woman denied that it was attempted murder.
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Addressing Perth’s Supreme Court today (6 May), prosecutor Ben Stanwix said: "[The woman] had reached the end of her ability to cope with her daughter.
"She injected [her daughter] with insulin because she was deliberately trying to kill her."
While her daughter fortunately survived the incident, she required months of hospital care.
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Stanwix told the court that the girl’s rare genetic disorder left her with severe cerebral palsy and neurological damage.
Her mother had played sole and primary carer, while her husband looked after their three other children in the regional town where they lived.
"On any view [she] had a difficult and exhausting life caring for a severely disabled daughter," Stanwix said, but added that the daughter received ‘sub-optimal’ care from her mother when it came to mobility, diet and digestive issues.
He said that, while the mother tried to give her daughter around-the-clock-care, she failed to turn up to specialist appointments at Perth Children's Hospital where ‘readily available’ treatment may have helped.
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She instead relied on a local GP who they saw regularly – and who, according to Stanwick, was told by the woman that her daughter’s health was deteriorating, and that she was getting towards the end of life.
Arguing that this was not the case, he claimed: “This is a very sad situation where [the accused’ decided she'd had enough and decided to kill.”
The court heard how the woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – allegedly asked the doctor for a prescription for insulin, believing it was ‘the most humane’ way to end her daughter’s life.
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Stanwix said that she obtained the insulin from a chemist in 2021, but eventually disposed of the drug after having 'second thoughts'.
After another consultation with the doctor in 2022, she bought a second batch of insulin, before allegedly injecting her daughter ‘with the insulin in an attempt to kill her’.
When the dad returned from the beach with their other kids and saw their daughter was ‘showing signs of distress’, the mother called emergency services, but told the operator the youngster was ‘not in any danger’.
"Rather than getting [her child] the level of care she needed, she decided to euthanise her … and then set about to murder her," Stanwix said during his opening statement to the court.
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The woman’s lawyer, Anthony Eyers, previously argued that her alleged action was ‘born out of desperation’, saying: “She didn't intend to kill her daughter and by that play God.”
The trial continues.