Fine for kids on van bed

THE mother of a nine-monthold girl found dead on a Gold Coast beach has been fined for travelling in a van with her two children unrestrained.

The 23-year-old did not appear in court yesterday for the offences, which happened on November 1 between Byron Bay and Tweed Heads.

The mother was fined $1000 for sitting in the back of a van with her two children while her partner drove on the Pacific Hwy without a licence.

The same partner has been charged with the murder of the couple’s nine-month-old baby girl. Police allege he threw the baby into the Tweed River on Saturday, November 17. Her body was found washed up on Surfers Paradise beach at 12.34am two days later.

Chief Detective Inspector Wayne Walpole did not rule out charging the mother in relation to the child’s death.

She faced two charges in the Tweed Heads Local Court yesterday, employing a driver who had never held a licence and travelling in part of a vehicle not for passengers. Court documents reveal the mother, her baby and toddler son were on a bed in the back of a van.

“Patrolling police could see that (the mother) and a young child ... in the rear of the vehicle not seated in car seats and not wearing seatbelts,” the police statement read.

“(She) made full admissions to knowing (the father) does not and has never held a licence. She allowed (him) to drive the vehicle because ‘he is better at driving manual’. The (mother) was sitting on the bed with her two children.”

Magistrate Geoff Dunlevy fined the woman $400 for allowing her partner to drive and $600 for sitting on the bed with her children.