A seven-year-old boy described everything looking like a "big smudge" as his enraged mother choked him while he was lifted off the ground before she assaulted him further - acts her own lawyer described as having "absolutely no excuse".
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The Ainslie woman fronted the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday for sentencing after pleading guilty to common assault and choking.
The statement of facts reads on April 18, 2022, the offender became enraged at her son for using scissors to cut curtains inside the house.
She then threw a heavy book at him, hitting him on the nose, before she choked him and lifted him off the ground.
Everything to the victim looked like a "big smudge" and his voice went croaky, the facts state.
The offender then told her son to get into a bath then sprayed him with toxic glitter powder, scaring him as he thought it was poisonous.
The offender then threw him into the shower, causing bruises on his back.
She then continued yelling and throwing shoes that hit him in the face.
The victim later described the woman as going "bonkers" and that she said to him "I wish I never had you".
He said he could not breathe and almost fainted during the choke and the pain as a result of the books and shoes being thrown at him was "10 out of 10".
Later medical examinations showed the boy also suffered minor bruising around his right eye and temple.
It was only when the neighbours heard the yelling and called police that the incident stopped.
In court, the boy's victim impact statement, which consisted mostly of drawings of him and his mother during her offending, was read out.
The drawings were accompanied by texts, including "I was struggling to breathe" and "I was thinking I was going to die".
Other words were sad, frustrated, scared, hurt, and frightened.
"[The offender] emphasises to the court that this is the worst thing she has ever done and that nothing the court could do to her would be so severe as the guilt that she feels and the remorse she feels," Ms Briggs said.
"However, we ask the court to consider the context and the circumstances around this incident and this day when sentencing."
She said the offender, being a single mother of the boy, had struggled to care for him while suffering from a number of mental health conditions, including complex PTSD, bipolar disorder, and ADHD.
Ms Briggs cited the COVID lockdown impacts and the 2019-20 bushfires as other factors impacting the offender's abilities to get help for her mental health and to care for her son.
She said her client was distressed and frightened to see her son carrying scissors.
"There is absolutely no excuse for [the offender's] actions," she said.
"Parents can't do that and that's agreed."
She said the PTSD stemmed from the offender's own "severe childhood trauma, which involved physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse".
"There is clear evidence of intergenerational trauma and learned actions from her own childhood trauma," Ms Briggs said.
Prosecutor Juanita Zankin said jail was the only appropriate sentence.
"The victim at seven years old is inherently vulnerable and there is clearly a power imbalance," Ms Zankin said.
She said there was also a breach of trust and the offender tried to justify her behaviour by using victim-blaming statements.
"The victim has been removed from his mother's care. No doubt he has suffered deeply, directly, and indirectly as a result of the offending conduct that goes beyond physical wounds," she said.
Chief magistrate Lorraine Walker said the offences "must be seen to be very serious".
"Family violence is always a concern for the court, but when a child is the subject of that violence at the hands of his parents, it is particularly concerning," she said.
"This is classically a case, however, of intergenerational trauma. It is classically a case of the cycle of violence."
She said she accepted the offender had one or more mental health conditions but she did not consider community service, for which the defence lawyer argued, as an "appropriate recognition of the seriousness of the offending".
The offender was sentenced to a fully suspended 15-month jail term upon her entering a three-year good behaviour order.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
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![The ACT Magistrates Court sentenced a woman to a suspended jail term on Wednesday for choking her seven-year-old son. File picture The ACT Magistrates Court sentenced a woman to a suspended jail term on Wednesday for choking her seven-year-old son. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/130009714/ea134ac1-1451-4629-a132-1239c9223659.jpg/r0_322_4256_2715_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)