28 Aug 2013

Killer mother sentenced to prison

12:18 pm on 28 August 2013

A woman in far north Queensland who bashed her daughter to death with a vacuum cleaner pipe has been sentenced to seven years in prison without parole after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

The child, aged eight, was found unconscious and covered in deep purple and black bruises by paramedics at a Cairns unit on 28 November 2011.

She could not be revived and died from extensive internal bleeding.

Cairns Supreme Court justice Jim Henry described the beatings as sustained and deliberate.

"This child was beaten to death," he said.

The Director of Public Prosecutions had sought a sentence of eight to 10 years for the mother.

Prosecutor Roger Griffith told the Supreme Court in Cairns on Tuesday she beat the girl on numerous occasions in the week leading up to the child's death.

The girl's stepfather was also convicted of manslaughter for not doing enough to protect the child.

The court heard that he confronted his wife about the beatings, which often happened while he was at work. However, the ABC reported he never told police or sought medical help.

The court was told the beatings occurred after the child refused to wash the dishes and when she asked to return to New Zealand to live with her father.

AAP reports the pair can't be named for legal reasons.