KID-STEALER JAILED
Woman, 35, dragged her ex-partner’s son, 11, from Cairns home
A 35-YEAR-OLD woman has been jailed for taking her ex-partner’s 11-year-old son against his will from a Cairns home.
The Brisbane District Court was told the woman, who cannot be named, took the boy to use as a bargaining chip to get access to her own 18-month-old son.
Her defence counsel said she had not seen her son for five or six months when she committed the offences in Cairns.
She had been “out of her mind with grief and longing to be with her young son’’ and had “acted out of desperation’’, the court was told.
Crown prosecutor David Nardone said that, on her instructions, her cousin took the struggling boy, who was crying and pleading not to be taken, to a car, at times dragging him, in August 2016.
A WOMAN, who took her former partner’s 11-year-old son from his home against his will to use as a bargaining chip to get access to her 18-month-old son, has been jailed for child stealing.
The woman, who cannot be named, went with her cousin to her former partner’s Cairns home demanding his new partner and the boy tell her where she could find her toddler, Brisbane District Court heard.
She then demanded the woman phone her former partner, threatening to murder her if she tried to call police, Crown prosecutor David Nardone told the court.
The woman also said she had people outside her expartner’s parents’ home and threatened they would be hurt if the police were called.
On her instructions, her cousin took the struggling boy, who was crying and pleading not to be taken, to a car, at times dragging him, Mr Nardone said.
The new partner pleaded with the woman not to take the boy, but she told her “not to f*** … with her’’, the court heard.
The boy’s father called police after speaking to his former partner on the phone.
The boy was driven to a McDonald’s restaurant, where his father found him 15 minutes later. The woman surrendered to police in Hervey Bay two days later.
She pleaded guilty to child stealing, burglary and assault causing bodily harm, committed in August, 2016.
Mr Nardone said the 35year-old appeared to have taken the boy to use him to bargain with her ex-partner so she could access their baby son.
The court heard she and her ex-partner had lived together with five children in Western Australia before he left for Queensland, taking his son, 11, and their 18-month-old son.
The woman’s defence counsel said she had not seen her son for five or six months when she committed the offences in Cairns.
She had been “out of her mind with grief and longing to be with her young son’’ and had “acted out of desperation’’, the court was told.
Judge Bernard Porter sentenced the woman to 2½ years in jail with parole release on November 28.