A New Zealand mother who suffocated her newborn son and fed him a button battery will spend more than seven years behind bars.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of six counts of ill-treating a child in September before being sentenced in Auckland’s High Court on Tuesday.
The charges relate to incidents involving the woman’s son, who was just nine-months-old during one incident, as well as a daughter who was intentionally overdosed on prescription pills to induce ataxia, according to Fairfax.
A New Zealand mother who suffocated her newborn son and fed him a button battery will spend more than seven years behind bars (stock image)
The mother reportedly suffers from factitious disorder imposed on another, which was previously known as Munchausen Syndrome by proxy.
The mental illness causes someone to intentionally harm or make-up non-existent symptoms about someone under their care to receive attention.
The woman is believed to have taken her children to see medical professionals more than 100 times, where they underwent unnecessary invasive procedures including a lumbar puncture.
Police were alerted to the behaviour in October 2015, after the mother suffocated her newborn son and called emergency services when he stopped breathing.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of six counts of ill-treating a child in September before being sentenced in Auckland’s High Court (pictured) on Tuesday
The mother reportedly suffers from factitious disorder imposed on another, which was previously known as Munchausen Syndrome by proxy, and also overdosed her daughter on prescription pills (stock image)
The woman was said to have thrived on ‘the buzz of the emergency’, and had appeared ‘cheerful and happy’ when taking the children to visit medical staff, the NZ Herald reported.
The offences, which took place over five years, were labelled extremely ‘serious’ and ‘harmful’ by the prosecution, who claimed the young boy ‘very nearly died’ due to the mother’s actions.
Justice Mary Peters sentenced the woman to seven years and one month in jail over the ‘extremely dangerous’ offences and did not impose a minimum period of imprisonment.
She called the offending ‘unusual’ but was confident the incidents would not have occurred had she not been sick.
The young boy is now believed to be in the care of his father, while the woman’s daughter is being looked after by a grandparent.
The woman is believed to have taken her children to see medical professionals more than 100 times, where they underwent unnecessary invasive procedures including a lumbar puncture (stock image)