A mother has been accused of giving unnecessary prescription medicines to a one-year-old girl to grow her social media profile and gain $60,000 in donations.
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Police allege the child was admitted to a hospital in Brisbane’s south for a genuine and “serious medical condition” when hospital staff raised concerns the 34-year-old Sunshine Coast woman was poisoning her.
Officers began investigating the allegations while the child and her siblings were put into a “safe situation”.
Police found unauthorised prescription drugs in the child’s system following testing, medical statements and expert opinions.
The woman was charged on Thursday with five counts of administering poison with intent to harm, three counts of preparation to commit crimes with dangerous things and one count each of torture, making child exploitation material and fraud.
Police allege between August and October 2024 the woman gave the child unauthorised prescription and pharmacy medications.
“Experts have described that the child would have been going through severe emotional and physical distress,” Detective Inspector Paul Dalton told reporters on Thursday.
The woman allegedly disregarded medical advice by ignoring a hospital’s treatment plan.
She allegedly went to lengths to get unauthorised medicines to give to the child, including old medications for a different person available at her home.
“Not only are we alleging the child was tortured over a three-month period and suffered severe emotional and physical distress and harm, siblings would be aware of this and other innocent family members,” Det Dalton said.
He said the five counts of administering poison relate to the woman allegedly giving the little girl one prescription medicine on numerous occasions.
The woman allegedly filmed and posted videos to social media of the child while she was in “immense distress and pain”.
“We believe the person we have charged has administered these drugs to increase that person’s social media profile and views and thereby obtain financial benefit,” Det Dalton said.
He said the woman had GoFundMe pages set up for crowd fundraising and allegedly fraudulently obtained $60,000 in donations.
GoFundMe is repaying donors and police will seek the money back in restitution should the woman be convicted.
“GoFundMe has been in close contact with Queensland Police during this investigation,” the fundraiser said in a statement.
“Proactive refunds are being issued to all donors as part of our ongoing commitment to protecting Australian generosity and in line with the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee.”
Any suggestion the accused woman suffered Munchausen syndrome by proxy – where a caregiver makes or exaggerates an illness for someone in their care – had not been raised with police.
Det Dalton said the infant was doing well since being removed from the woman’s care.
He said if police had not intervened, there could have been dire consequences for the child.
“It’s been described as gravely ill with the possibility of the child passing away,” he said.
The 34-year-old remains in custody and will face Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday.
Child protection organisation Act for Kids said it was an “incredibly distressing” situation.
“Act for Kids acknowledges that this is likely to have an emotional and negative impact on the entire community and may bring on feelings of anger, sadness and anxiousness,” chief executive Katrina Lines said.
Lifeline 13 11 14; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)
