A WOMAN who force-fed her three-year-old daughter to the point the little girl vomited was placed on a community based order following her appearance in Mandurah Magistrates Court on Friday.
The woman, who cannot be named to protect her children, pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault with both offences committed against her children.
The court heard the woman was living in Secret Harbour with her children and her parents at the time the two offences occurred in February and March last year.
The first charge involved the mother forcing food down the throat of her daughter, saying “you have to eat”.
The offence was witnessed by other family members who said the little girl had been “distraught and crying” throughout her ordeal.
Another offence involved the mother putting her young son in a cold shower after he threw a tantrum.
A family member heard the boy screaming and found him “shivering and hysterical” under the shower in his underwear.
The mother said she had been trying to calm the boy down and at one point called him a “f***ing idiot”.
Counsel for the woman said the matter was a difficult one but that his client recognised she had gone too far.
The lawyer said the woman was not a malicious or sinister parent, but was an inexperienced and clumsy one.
The children have not been in the woman’s care for 11 months with the Department of Child Protection intervening in the case.
Magistrate Vivien Edwards told the woman she lacked skills as a parent and placed her on a 12-month supervised order with program requirements.
The woman was also ordered to pay court costs.
