A convicted baby killer who tried to violently kidnap a child off the street in Sydney could walk free within months after being sentenced to just over two years in prison.
The woman, 49, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced in the Downing Centre District Court on Wednesday over the December 2022 attempted abduction.
She pleaded guilty to attempting to take a child and common assault, and was jailed for a maximum 3.5 years with a non-parole period beginning in March 2025 after Judge David Wilson found her moral culpability was reduced due to her “substantial, long-standing and ongoing” use of illegal drugs, Nine News reported.
In 2005 she was jailed for just five years for manslaughter after putting her eight-month-old daughter in a scalding hot bath at South Strathfield in October 2003, leaving the baby girl with burns to 75% of her body. She then took the fatally injured child with her as she prostituted herself and tried to buy drugs.
During the 2022 attempted abduction the woman grabbed a nine-year-old girl who was waiting at a bus stop in south-west Sydney with her grandmother by the arm and said “come with me” before claiming to be the child’s mother.
“Nanny, stop her, stop her!” the child screamed during the terrifying incident during which the woman swung at the grandmother and left her with a red and swollen eye.
After the grandmother managed to free the child the woman said “I’m going to kill you” and fled into a nearby apartment complex.
Police later tracked her down and arrested her, finding her “highly intoxicated” and in possession of a bag of children’s toys.
Judge Wilson told the baby killer in sentencing: “You’ve had a rough time but you’ve also inflicted a lot of harm on the community. Can you please take this as an opportunity to turn your life around?”
“Yes, sir,” she replied.
The judge placed her on the child protection register and ordered her to undergo drug, alcohol and mental health treatment after her release, noting she was not taking her prescribed anti-psychotic medication at the time of the attempted abduction.
He also noted her long history of drug use and found she was remorseful.
Header image: Downing Centre District Court (J Bar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons – cropped)
