SA: Drug addict mother jailed for fatal assault on her baby

AAP General News (Australia)
12-12-2007
SA: Drug addict mother jailed for fatal assault on her baby

ADELAIDE, Dec 12 AAP - A drug addicted mother who bit and hit her six-month-old daughter
during a fatal assault has been jailed for at least five years.

Sophie Louise Christensen told the South Australian Supreme Court she had been "coming
down hard" from methamphetamines when she assaulted her baby for up to 90 minutes in May
2004.

Christensen, who told the court she acted "out of sheer frustration", was today sentenced
to eight years and two months jail, with a non-parole period of five years, for the manslaughter
of her daughter, Stella.

Stella died from head injuries and internal bleeding, with an autopsy revealing she
also had 11 broken ribs and two broken ankles at the time of her death.

Judge Trish Kelly said the autopsy estimated the fatal assault lasted for between 75
and 90 minutes, and also revealed older injuries, indicating previous assaults.

"The child must have been in pain in most of her short life," Judge Kelly said today.

"You were the person in a position of trust, the only person in the world who was to
protect and defend her.

"But you were, in fact, the most dangerous person in the world to her - in this sense,
she never had a chance."

Stella died in hospital after being assaulted by her mother at Hayborough, south of
Adelaide, on May 1, 2004.

Christensen, 34, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in May this year - the same month her
son, Thomas, told police of his recollection of the assault.

Thomas, who was aged four years at the time of the assault, told police he "saw red
funny stuff" coming from Stella's mouth after he heard a thud on a wall.

AAP sl/cjh/bwl

KEYWORD: CHRISTENSEN

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