A woman has been jailed for seven years after beating a five-year-old girl so badly her injuries resembled those of a high-speed car crash.
Brooke Roberts, 31, was found guilty of grievous bodily harm at Parkes District Court after the girl was left covered in bruises and bites – injuries Roberts said the young child had given herself.
‘She threw herself into the coffee table, she started running towards the door frame, and I said to her “please stop”,’ she told police during questioning.
‘She threw herself into the coffee table, she started running towards the door frame, and I said to her “please stop”,’ Roberts told police during questioning
Photos of the girl have been released, and while they are disturbing in nature, tell a different story about who was responsible.
Pediatricians documented more than 60 separate bruises on the child’s body, as well as marks caused by of strangulation and two adult bite marks.
She is also said to have suffered ‘serious’ brain injuries consistent with blunt force trauma to the head, Dr Paul Hotton wrote in a report.
It was Roberts who called 000 claiming the girl had been acting erratically for the last five days and ‘peed her pants’.
It was Roberts (pictured) who called 000 claiming the girl had been acting erratically for the last five days and ‘peed her pants’
On arrival the ambulance officers found the girl unable to control her bladder, bruising on her entire body and with a low respiratory rate
On arrival the ambulance officers found the girl unable to control her bladder, bruising on her entire body and with a low respiratory rate, Parkes Post reports.
Child Abuse Squad Detective Chief Inspector Peter Yeomans said the case was ‘repugnant in the highest degree.’
‘She’s still suffering from those injuries but look we’re hopeful that she will recover fully and have somewhat of a life in front of her from now on,’ he told Seven News.
Judge Hanley sentenced Roberts to seven years imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years which starts on October 23 and expires on October 22, 2022.