The jurors in the trial of a woman accused of beating and neglecting her children for five years will resume their deliberations this morning.
They’ve been asked to consider if the defence of “reasonable chastisement” applies in relation to some of the allegations.
The woman, who can’t be named to protect her children’s identities, is facing over 40 charges of neglect and cruelty, which allegedly took place at five different addresses in the west in the five years leading up to May 2011 when social services took them into care.
When they called unannounced, the trial heard the house was a mess, the children were hungry and their mother was nowhere to be found. One of two strange men who were there was drunk, while the other was asleep in one of the children’s beds.
Six of her alleged victims gave evidence via video link and recalled incidents of neglect and cruelty.
Two of her sons claimed they had to jump out of the way after their mother tried to run them over with her car for spilling ice-cream in the back seat.
The jurors will enter their third hour of deliberations later this morning.
