Tyrrell foster mum spared intimidation conviction
Miklos Bolza |
The foster mother of missing toddler William Tyrrell has been spared conviction for intimidating and assaulting another child while mentally distressed over his disappearance.
A magistrate in 2024 found her threats to slap the child on two occasions amounted to intimidation.
The woman, who cannot be legally identified, had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of assault after striking the child with a wooden spoon and separately kicking them on the thigh.
While finding the offences had been proven, Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Friday removed the convictions for the incidents – uncovered during covert police surveillance of her home and car in 2021.
“I accept that no conviction should have been recorded,” Judge Miiko Kumar said.
The offences were at the low end of objective seriousness and were committed at a time when the foster mother was dealing with the trauma of William’s disappearance, the judge found.
The woman used a “harsh and loud tone” with the child during the intimidation, the judge said.
“You’re going to find yourself in a world of pain,” the woman told the child on one occasion.
“I’m going to slap you across the face, do you want me to do that?”
The magistrate made no error in finding the intimidation was proven beyond reasonable doubt, Judge Kumar said.
But she disagreed with the ultimate sentence handed down, tossing aside the conviction.
Instead, she imposed a 12-month conditional release order – in effect, a good-behaviour bond.
Judge Kumar accepted the woman was experiencing “an almost unique and heartbreaking set of stressors” at the time.
She was a person of good character, had shown genuine remorse and contrition for her actions and was unlikely to reoffend, the judge said.
Outside court accompanied by her lawyer Sharon Ramsden, the woman declined to speak to waiting reporters after the judgment.
Five counts of intimidation brought against the foster mother over alleged incidents related to the child were dismissed by magistrate Susan McIntyre in March 2024.
William’s foster father in February also had a conviction for intimidating the child tossed out after a successful District Court appeal.
In that decision, Judge Sean Grant found the man did not intend to cause fear of harm when he screamed in frustration while taking the child to school.
William was three years old when he went missing while playing at his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast on September 12, 2014.
No one has been charged over his disappearance, although police have aired a theory his foster mother disposed of his body after his accidental death.
The woman denies having anything to do with William’s disappearance.
AAP
