‘I thought Tiahleigh was safer in care’
CINDY Palmer has told how she gave her daughter up during a “severe domestic violence situation” because she thought it was the safest option for a then seven-year-old Tiahleigh.
But instead, five years later, Tiahleigh would die at the hands of her foster father after being molested by her 18-year-old foster brother.
Rick Thorburn pleaded guilty to murder on Friday and will serve 20 years before being eligible for parole.
“I was suffering through a very severe domestic violence situation,” Cindy Palmer told 60 Minutes. “So, I actually went to the department for help because I realised that one day I was just going to die and (she) was just going to be left there by (herself).
“I still firmly believe that the day I went to the department asking for help, I made the right decision. It’s not what I wanted and it wasn’t the outcome any of us wanted, but at the end of the day I thought it was the safer option.”
But life only got worse for Cindy after giving up her daughter, she said. “At first, I was so devastated at being apart from her that I spiralled out of control, into drugs and homelessness,” she said
Cindy told the program she’d had a bad feeling about the Thorburn family and was worried her daughter would be living with teenage boys.