Toddler spent weeks in hospital after being poisoned with salt by her own mum
A ‘beautiful and happy’ toddler spent weeks in hospital vomiting almost every day after her mum began surreptitiously ‘poisoning’ her with salt.
The 13-month-old was ‘put in regular and repeated distress’ by the woman, who would even distract medics in order to tamper with her food and later tried to pin the blame on the little girl’s dad when her abuse was uncovered, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
Her mother was jailed for more than four years after she pleaded guilty to child cruelty and two counts of administering a noxious substance with intent to injure part-way through a trial.
Jurors had been told the 34-year-old’s relationship with the child’s father ended around three months after she was born in early 2018.
From that summer onwards, the youngster was taken to the GP and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital ‘far more often than usually expected’.
Doctors were initially mystified by the unknown illness, but by February 2019 she began showing the first signs of nephrocalcinosis – a condition caused by excessive calcium intake and a symptom of ‘salt poisoning’.
The mum, who cannot be named to protect the child’s identity, was allowed to continue to feed her, but she would ‘become distressed and begin vomiting sometime after’.
It was also noted the baby was ‘extremely thirsty’.
Samples taken by hospital staff subsequently showed abnormally high levels of sodium in the girl’s blood – leading them to conclude the ‘only rational explanation was she had been poisoned with salt’.
A statement read out in court from the girl’s dad described how his ‘beautiful and happy’ child vomited on an ‘almost daily basis’ and sometimes several times a day.
Rebecca Smith, prosecuting, said the father himself was treated as a suspect during Merseyside Police’s investigation after the defendant ‘told everybody it was him hurting her’.
Their daughter was placed into foster care for 18 months as a result, although she is now ‘loving life and enjoying herself’ and has made a full recovery.
His statement added: ‘I can’t understand why she did this, but I believe it was to make me suffer. Why do that to her? Why hurt her to get at me?
‘How long would she have put her through suffering, all for her own gain? It makes me feel sick thinking about what could have happened if she wasn’t stopped.
‘I know that one day I will have to tell her the truth, and this frightens me. I will never get over the emotional pain.’
Defending, Julian Nutter told the court his client appeared to be suffering from Munchausen syndrome, a rare psychological disorder in which a person fabricates or induces symptoms of illness in themselves.
He added: ‘This, on any view, is a tragic case – not only for the child concerned and the family but also for the defendant who, as a result of what she has done, has set a mechanism which will ensure she will never have a normal relationship with the child who she harmed.
‘The background to this is somebody who has done a terrible thing, but someone who is a vulnerable person.
‘She suffers from learning difficulties, and this is somebody who has all the signs of Munchausen’s. There is no explanation as to why she behaved in this way.
‘She appears to be moving towards coming to terms with responsibility for what she has done. This is not an individual who decided upon a course of cruelty intending to cause really serious harm.
‘This is a reflection on somebody seeking attention, or for whatever reasons which we cannot get to the bottom of. This is not an individual who is evil to the root.
‘This is not thinking things through and not working out the path to where this is all going to lead. She has paid the price now.’
The woman said ‘love yous all’ to members of her family in the public gallery as she was taken into the dock on Thursday, then sat slouched with her head bowed.
She could be heard sobbing and moaning throughout the hearing before being jailed for four years and two months.
Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said: ‘I am satisfied and sure it happened on many different occasions. There must have been separate, repeated episodes where salt was introduced into her food.
It paints an inescapably clear picture of a helpless 13-month-old infant being put in regular and repeated distress, solely because of your actions in putting excessive quantities of salt into her food.
‘That she recovered in the way that she did is thanks to a combination of the diligence of medical staff and her kidneys continuing to work normally. It is no thanks to you.
‘Not only did you conceal it, but you repeatedly showed a determination to create opportunities to poison her. Sometimes this was achieved by distracting professionals, sometimes by fake outrage.
‘Many people know a different side of you, but until recently were unaware of your offending. You are someone concerned only for yourself.
Bugatti used by Andrew Tate to taunt Greta Thunberg 'is seized in Romania'‘You are a highly manipulative individual, skilled in ways of trying to gain sympathy for yourself. You have repeatedly shown you have put your own interests front and centre, above your daughter’s.
‘You have continued to blame others and are unable to offer any insight into your behaviour. There were prolonged and multiple incidents, and this was serious cruelty.
‘These are all grave offences. As her mother, you were in a position of trust – although I accept you did not intend to endanger her life, you risked a danger to life or serious permanent harm.’
The woman was also handed an indefinite criminal behaviour order, restricting her contact with children, and a restraining order preventing her from contacting her daughter’s father for life.
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