An Australian woman has been arrested on charges that she gave a 1-year-old girl multiple drugs to make her sick over several months, then posted videos of the child online to solicit sympathy and donations, local police said. .
The child was in “great distress and pain” for more than two months, between August and October last year, the Queensland Police Service he said in a press release on Thursday. The relationship between the 34-year-old woman, who police did not name, and the girl was not immediately clear.
Police said the woman “went to great lengths to obtain” unauthorized medication, including “old medication” for another person in their home, and that she “carefully” -attempts to administer that medication to the child, including while she was inside a hospital in Brisbane where the child was hospitalized.
Hospital staff eventually discovered what the woman was doing and called police last October, authorities said. On Jan. 7, tests performed on the child returned positive results for illegal medication, police said.
according to to BBC NewsDetective Inspector Paul Dalton told reporters that the woman raised 60,000 Australian dollars, equivalent to about $37,000, through GoFundMe donations.
She was arrested on Thursday at her home in Morningside, a suburb of Brisbane, on five counts of administering poison with intent to cause harm, three counts of preparing to commit crimes with dangerous substances, and one count each of torture, child trafficking and fraud. , the police said.
According to BBC News, Dalton told reporters that the child was now “safe and doing well,” and that no one else had been charged for the alleged abuse.
