Name Unknown.
Died: November 18, 2010.
Age at death: 6 months.
Cause of death: Drowned.
Location: Sydney, Australia.
Disability: None; mother believed she had dwarfism.
Details:
This baby girl was born without any congenital conditions, but because she had skin tags on her ears, her mother believed her daughter had a disability. She had doctors test her over and over, each time with negative results, but became fixed on the idea that the baby had dwarfism. When a friend told her to stop worrying because it wasn’t cancer, she replied that it would be “better to deal with a terminal illness than to spend a lifetime with a dwarf”.
Her mother drowned the six-month-old girl in the bathtub.
Case status:
Her mother, sentenced to up to 20 years in a mental health institution; found fit to stand trial in August 2016, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Source:
Australian mother sentenced to 20 years jail for drowning 6-month-old child
Mother who killed baby believing she was a dwarf should not be jailed, court told
Mother who drowned her baby after worrying she had dwarfism sentenced to 20 years
NSW mother to face baby’s murder trial
Sydney mother who drowned her baby in the bath found guilty of murder
Sydney woman who drowned her daughter convicted of murder
Mother accused of drowning her baby in a bath
Mother found guilty of murdering baby she believed had a genetic defect
Mother fit to stand trial over baby death
Mother drowned her girl because she thought she had dwarfism