The High Court has upheld a Queensland mother’s appeal against her nine-year prison sentence for killing her son.

March 18, 2020

A Queensland mother jailed for killing her four-year-old son will be re-sentenced after the High Court found a judge accepted unproven evidence as fact.

Heidi Strbak was sentenced to nine years jail in 2017 after she pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her son Tyrell Cobb.

Tyrell died in May 2009 after Strbak and her then de facto Matthew Scown failed to seek timely medical treatment for the sick boy.

He had been vomiting bile for two days following a blow to his abdomen, which cut open his small intestine.

Strbak’s sentencing hearing was told she and Scown had committed acts of physical aggression towards Tyrell.

An autopsy revealed 70 bruises and abrasions, including a cigarette lighter burn on his ankle.

Strbak denied burning and slapping Tyrell. She also denied inflicting the blow that led to his death.

Scown was also convicted of Tyrell’s manslaughter and received a four-year sentence after the court found while he also failed to seek medical help, he was not responsible for the injuries.

Strbak previously appealed her sentence in the Queensland Court of Appeal on the grounds she did not inflict the blunt force injuries to Tyrell.

She called for a three-year reduction to the sentence but this was dismissed by the court.

The appeal court found there was no error in the Justice Peter Applegarth’s conclusion that Strbak was likely to have punched Tyrell in the stomach and then struck him again when he vomited before his eventual death.

Scown testified at that hearing, saying he had seen Strbak abuse the boy, particularly when she was unable to obtain marijuana.

But the High Court of Australia granted Strbak’s appeal against the sentence after it found Justice Applegarth incorrectly assessed some facts in the case.

It said that on a number of occasions he accepted unproven prosecution evidence or a conclusion that reflected poorly on Strbak when determining her sentence.

This occurred because Strbak failed to give sworn evidence contradicting the prosecution at her sentencing hearing, a full bench of the court said in its judgment on Wednesday.

Strbak will be re-sentenced in the Queensland Supreme Court at a date to be fixed.