A 34-year-old Australian woman was charged with torture as police accused her of administering unauthorized medication to a 1-year-old girl and posting videos of the child in “immense distress and pain” so that she could solicit donations and grow her social media following.
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Police arrested the woman Thursday in Underwood, eastern Australia, and charged her with five counts of administering poison with intent to harm, three counts of preparation to commit crimes with dangerous things, and one count each of torture, making child exploitation material and fraud. The individual charges can carry sentences of between five and 20 years of imprisonment.
Detective Inspector Paul Dalton said at a news conference Thursday that the child is now “safe” and doing “well.”
Queensland Police said the woman raised just above 60,000 Australian dollars (US$37,000) from donors fraudulently. Authorities did not name the woman or child or specify their relationship, but they said the infant “was known to” the woman. Police did not give information about her legal representation.
Dalton said that medical experts who consulted on the case suggested the child could have died if no one had intervened.
“There are no words to describe the just how repulsive offences of this nature are,” Dalton said. “There is no excuse for hurting a child, particularly one so young, that is totally dependent on adults to care for and love … them.”
In a statement Thursday, police said that between Aug. 6 and Oct. 15, 2024, the woman “administered several unauthorised prescription and pharmacy medicines to” the girl “without medical approval.”
They said the woman disregarded medical advice about a health condition for which the child was hospitalized and “went to lengths to obtain unauthorised medicines, including old medicines for a different person available in their home.”
The woman “carefully concealed her continued efforts to administer” the drugs, police said, and during this time, they said she filmed and posted videos of the child in distress “to entice monetary donations and online followers.”
Her alleged plot unraveled when medical staff at a hospital in Brisbane, where police say the child had been treated for a serious medical condition, called the police. The hospital had given the woman instructions on how to care for the child’s condition, Dalton said.
“The hospital staff must be extremely distressed and anxious about what happened here, and they’ve done nothing wrong at all,” said Dalton. “We’ll be alleging that the person has done what she’s done in defiance of medical opinion.”
Police first “took immediate action to protect the child” and launched an investigation that took several months, the statement said. They spoke to medical experts, analyzed the woman’s social media accounts and conducted tests that identified the unauthorized medicines in the child’s system.
Dalton said police investigated “a lot” of other people, and “the only evidence that we can establish to the satisfaction of the court is the lady we’ve charged.” She is due to appear before the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday
Many people donated “their hard-earned cash” to the woman, Dalton said, adding that police had been in contact with GoFundMe. A spokesperson for the fundraising site told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the company was issuing “proactive refunds … to all donors as part of our ongoing commitment to protecting Australian generosity.”
Dalton said he hoped this incident would not deter people from helping out those in need in the future.
“I think the worst thing that could happen would be if as a society, we lose our generous Aussie nature where we dig in and help our mates out, because of one bad incident,” he said.