Finally, his mum will pay
Court saga to end with jail sentence for boy killer
MORE than eight years after four-year-old Tyrell Cobb died covered with 70 bruises and abrasions, someone will finally be held accountable for delivering the blow that killed him – his mother.
Heidi Strbak, 34, was responsible for the horrific injuries that led to his painful death and there was no compelling evidence that her ex-boyfriend Matthew Scown was the culprit, a Supreme Court judge found yesterday.
Strbak, who joined the army after Tyrell died on May 24, 2009, faces a maximum term of life behind bars when she is sentenced for manslaughter next week.
Strbak pleaded guilty to the charge last month, although argued it was a case of negligence and denied she was behind the fatal blow or blows to Tyrell’s abdomen that caused the contents of his stomach to leak and internal bleeding.
Strbak cried out “I don’t understand” when Justice Peter Applegarth yesterday found she was her son’s killer on the balance of probabilities after hearing evidence she was aggressive towards the child and angry when not sedated by cannabis.
“The prosecution ... presents a compelling circumstantial case that Strbak inflicted seri- ous injuries that weekend on her son, including the fatal injuries,” Justice Applegarth said. “There is no compelling evidence that Scown inflicted the fatal injuries that weekend.”
The sentence next Monday will bring an end to a case that has a long history before the courts, beginning when Scown was charged with murder soon after Tyrell died with 70 cuts and abrasions and two bluntforce trauma injuries to his abdomen.
The charge did not stick due to complex medical evidence and was struck out in 2010. Scown was charged with murder again – this time alongside Strbak – after a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation in 2015.
The charges were downgraded to manslaughter after a committal hearing last year.
Justice Applegarth said that there was evidence Scown, also 34, repeatedly urged Strbak to provide medical assistance to Tyrell and he observed his partner slap the child the weekend the boy died.