Mum Heidi Strbak, who killed her four-year-old son, rushed to hospital with severe head injures

A mother who walked free from prison early after killing her four-year-old son has been rushed to hospital with severe head injuries which triggered a cardiac arrest.

Heidi Strbak, 38, was jailed for nine years for the manslaughter of little Tyrell Cobb but was let out on appeal after serving just over three years of the original sentence.

On Saturday, emergency crews were called to a property at Upper Coomera on the Gold Coast at about 7:30am after reports a woman had been ‘seriously injured’.

Heidi Strbak was rushed to hospital with severe head injuries which triggered a cardiac arrest

Queensland Police told Daily Mail Australia they discovered a woman at the Cassia Drive address at the bottom of a flight of stairs.

Investigators established a crime scene with detectives spending the afternoon scouring the home and removing bags of evidence for forensic testing as they try to piece together what happened.

‘She was transported to hospital where she remains in a serious condition,’ police said.

‘Initial investigations suggest the woman’s fall is not suspicious, however investigations are ongoing.’

The apparent fall caused severe head injuries that saw her go into cardiac arrest.

Ambulance crews were able to stabilise her condition and she is now fighting for life at Gold Coast University Hospital.

Queensland Police told Daily Mail Australia they discovered a woman at the Cassia Drive address at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Pictured: Heidi Strbak

Strbak was freed after her jail term was reduced after successfully appealing the nine-year sentence in the High Court. 

Brisbane Supreme Court Justice David Boddice, who oversaw a four-day contested sentence hearing in October 2020, immediately suspended the sentence after taking into account the 1,148 days she had already spent in custody.

Strbak wiped her eyes as the judge handed down his sentence and slammed her for failing to protect her own son.

‘You failed dismally, with the consequence that he lost his life,’ the judge told Strbak.

‘Your conduct involved serious criminal behaviour to your own child, who relied and depended on you to protect him.’

Tyrell Cobb (pictured), four, suffered two separate blows to his abdomen that caused internal bleeding and the leaking of his stomach contents which led to his death on May 24, 2009

Tyrell died on the Gold Coast in May 2009 after Strbak and her then de facto husband Matthew Scown failed to seek timely medical treatment for the sick boy. 

He had been vomiting following a blow to his abdomen, which tore open his small intestine.

Tyrell was unresponsive and never regained consciousness by the time paramedics were called,

An autopsy revealed 70 bruises and abrasions, as well as a cigarette lighter burn on his ankle.  

Justice Boddice found the blunt force trauma that caused the boy’s death could have been inflicted by his mother of her former de facto partner, Matthew Scown (pictured) 

Strbak received a nine-year jail term in 2017 for the crime, but that sentence was set aside in March after a High Court appeal.   

She pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge on the basis she did not seek medical treatment. 

Justice Boddice found the blunt force trauma that caused the boy’s death could have been inflicted by his mother or Scown.

The Supreme Court judge said Scown and Strbak were the only people who had the opportunity to inflict two deliberate blows that caused Tyrell’s death. 

He also said the Crown had failed to establish that either of them inflicted the traumatic injuries to the boy.  

Tyrell (pictured) vomited bile for two days following a blow to his abdomen, which tore open his small intestine

Scown was sentenced to four years behind bars in 2017 for Tyrell’s manslaughter but was immediately released as he had served more than two years in custody.

He was sentenced for being criminally negligent and failing to seek medical treatment for the boy.

Justice Boddice told the court there had been evidence Scown had been violent with Tyrell.

‘There is a real and reasonable likelihood that Tyrell’s traumatic injuries were occasioned by the deliberate infliction of violence by Scown to Tyrell,’ the judge said. 

The Supreme Court judge found Tyrell’s death was caused by deliberate infliction of blunt trauma to his abdomen with force on two occasions. 

The judge said Tyrell’s father Jason Cobb (pictured), who was in the court during sentencing, have also been grieving the boy’s death 

 Justice Boddice said Strbak had been a loving mother to Tyrell and had no evidence of past abuse or neglect of Tyrrell

He said the injuries were inflicted by either Strbak or Scown.  

Justice Boddice said Strbak had been a loving mother to Tyrell and had no evidence of past abuse or neglect of Tyrrell. 

He said she is at low risk of reoffending, with good prospects to rehabilitate, showing co-operation and remorse by giving a guilty plea.

The judge told the court Strbak’s response to Tyrell’s health may have been because she did not understand the severity of the situation. 

‘I do not doubt that you grieve every day for your lost son,’ he said. 

He said Tyrell’s father Jason Cobb, who was in the court during sentencing, has also been grieving the boy’s death.