Woman who secretly gave birth and hid dead baby inside a plastic bag in her freezer avoids jail
Monique Ellen Burton, 35, faced the Perth District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to one count of interfering with a corpse to prevent or prejudice an investigation.
Burton gave birth to the child in secret in the lounge room of her home in Geraldton, in the Mid West region of Western Australia, in August 2022.
She then wrapped the baby in her leggings before hiding the child behind the couch inside a black garbage bag.
Burton has always claimed the baby was a stillborn.
During the trial, it was revealed Burton lied to her partner of 14 years, Shaun Balaam, who was not the biological father of the child, by telling him she had liver cirrhosis which caused her stomach to bloat.
Mr Balaam found Burton on the morning of August 19, 2022, feeling unwell on the sofa.
He rushed her to the hospital after he noticed blood on her legs, but Burton repeatedly denied giving birth or being pregnant despite medical evidence proving otherwise.
When he got home from the hospital, Mr Balaam found the bag behind the couch but did not check what was inside.
He told police he suspected it might have been a baby due to Burton's history of concealing pregnancies but 'freaked out' and put it in the freezer.
Burton eventually admitted to having the baby and told hospital staff that she had hidden the child behind the sofa, which prompted a police search of her home.
Burton was interviewed in January 2024 and told police her memory was 'fuzzy' and that she had 'blocked it out'.
In handing down his sentence, Judge Darren Renton said it was not possible to determine what caused the baby boy's death as he was placed in the freezer.
However, Judge Renton added the child, known as Baby Burton, was likely a stillborn.
'You said there was no noise from the baby and he looked like a doll,' Judge Renton said.
Judge Renton explained he grappled with giving Burton an appropriate sentence as he accepted she was remorseful but the offending was very serious.
'Your motive was in part a desire to avoid the consequences of your pregnancy and because of your psychological conditions,' Judge Renton said.
'You had a sticking your head in the sand approach to deal with stressors and would go into a state of avoidance and denial.
"What you did involved a degree of indignity towards Baby Burton and would quite rightly be viewed as repugnant by members of the community.'
He labelled the situation as 'tragic... on many levels' as her lies made the case exceptionally frustrating and created layers of complexity.
While Burton's offending was towards the 'lower end' of the scale of criminal culpability, Judge Renton said it was by a bare margin her sentence was suspended.
Her stress, mental health issues, and lack of family support was taken into consideration during the ruling.
Burton was sentenced to a 19-month prison term that was suspended for 12 months.
Her sentencing included a treatment program to address personal development, psychiatric needs and parenting.
Burton was also charged with 12 counts of fraud related to money she received in donations from a GoFundMe page.
The GoFundMe was set up by a friend to help Burton cover medical expenses related to her fake liver issues.
Judge Renton noted Burton did not create the fund and her actions were mostly passive despite accepting more than $3,000 in donations.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
12 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Yahoo Serious still REFUSES to leave the multimillion-dollar beachside home he was accused of squatting in - despite being issued a court order
A defiant Yahoo Serious refuses to leave the multi-million dollar Sydney home he has been accused of squatting in. Serious, 72, appeared on A Current Affair this week when the landlord responsible for the property in Sydney's Palm Beach came to confront the former film star. He is said to be living illegally with his Jack Russell terrier in the multi-million-dollar home of Charles Phillip Porter, who is in his 90s and in a nursing home. The actor had been ordered to exit the multi-storey house on Barrenjoey Road by August 4. Margaret Charlton is the landlord and holds power of attorney for Charles Phillip Porter, the home's owner, who is currently in a nursing home. She told ACA she needed to sell the property to pay for Porter's mounting nursing home fees. Reading from a court order, Margaret said: 'The order for possession is suspended until the fourth of August... which means that I get the property back.' Margaret then entered the property, surprised to find Yahoo still inside. 'You've been living in this property while Margie's been trying to sell it to pay for Phillip's aged care,' reporter Pippa Bradshaw told the Young Einstein star. 'He's got dementia – he can sell the property,' Serious flippantly replied. When told that Charlton had been unable to sell the property while Serious was occupying it, he defiantly protested that he was not squatting and was 'sick.' 'I'm not squatting – [I'm] surviving,' Serious said. 'Look at the weather out there – it's really, really dangerous.' Removalists then arrived to begin stripping the property of belongings; however, Serious refused to budge. 'Yahoo is still refusing to go, even though we are taking all the old furniture out so the house can be sold,' Charlton said. She added that the situation would soon be escalated if Serious continued to flout the court order. 'We have booked a sheriff. As soon as the sheriff comes... if he refuses to go... the police will be called and he'll be physically removed from the property,' Charlton said. Speaking to Daily Mail in July, Serious denied that he was squatting at the property, despite a tribunal hearing having given him a deadline to vacate. 'You've got it all wrong,' he insisted. Charlton also told Daily Mail Australia the former star has cost the homeowner $70,000 in nursing home fees because he refused to move out. In March, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal heard that Serious used to live in the granny flat beneath the dilapidated property, which stands among the mansions overlooking picturesque Pittwater. The tribunal was told the owner had allowed Serious to move into the granny flat, as the former screen star was living rough in his ageing BMW sedan, but he moved into the main house when Mr Porter was put into care. On April 24, the tribunal initially gave Serious six weeks to move out, Charlton told Daily Mail. 'But his lawyer said he needed 12 weeks because he's a sick man with lymphoma,' she said. Serious – and his wild haircut at the time – became suddenly famous when he starred in 1988's Young Einstein movie and then 1993's Reckless Kelly. But he later fell on hard times and was taken in by Porter and Charlton several years ago. He was recently seen looking very gaunt, amid concerns for his health. Serious told the tribunal he should be allowed to remain in the home because he was Mr Porter's carer, which Ms Charlton strongly disputes. 'Phillip - we call him Phillip, not Charles, is a family friend, he has been for years and years,' she said. 'He's never been married, never had children, so he made me power of attorney and trustee. 'He was getting old and getting dementia, and was having trouble looking after himself, so I was doing all his cooking. 'It wasn't like Yahoo was his carer. He wasn't bathing him or dressing him. I was washing his clothes, we had a cleaner coming in.
Telegraph
12 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Model arrested after husband stabbed to death in New York apartment
A model has been arrested after his husband was found dead with multiple stab wounds in their New York apartment. Jacob Zieben-Hood, a 34-year-old personal trainer, was found slumped over a toilet in his Harlem home on Friday, with a gash to his head and further injuries to his legs. His husband, Donald Zieben-Hood, 40, was arrested and arraigned on Sunday on charges of burglary, criminal contempt and weapons possession. He has not been charged with his partner's death. Prosecutors said in court that the pair had a history of domestic incidents and that Donald had allegedly threatened Jacob with a knife hours before his body was found. Police said that the investigation was ongoing and that they were treating the incident as a homicide. Jacob called his father on Thursday evening, claiming that Donald – whom he had taken a protection order against the previous year – was chasing him with a knife and refusing to let him leave the apartment, prosecutors said. Donald could allegedly be heard in the background of the call shouting at him and calling him 'derogatory names'. The model claimed he fell asleep following the alleged dispute before waking up around 4am Friday to find his husband dead, according to the New York Post. He called the police, who found Jacob on a toilet covered in blood, with multiple injuries including a stab wound to the back of his leg that penetrated his calf muscle. Donald, whom police said had three cuts on his arms that required stitches, apparently told officers when they arrived that his husband had attacked him with a knife. 'Police responded to a 911 call for an unconscious male inside 250 West 138 Street within the confines of the 32 Precinct,' New York police department said in a statement to US media. 'Upon arrival, officers observed an unconscious 34-year-old male with multiple stab wounds to his legs. [Emergency services] responded and pronounced the male deceased on scene.' Prosecutors said Jacob Zieben-Hood had a protection order in place against his partner since last year, which Donald was alleged to have broken on several occasions. Police are said to have recorded nine domestic incident reports between the couple since 2022. In February, Donald was reportedly charged with strangulation after allegedly attacking his husband in the apartment, and he is said to have threatened his partner with a kitchen knife in June. A judge denied the 40-year-old's bail on Sunday as medical examiners examine the cause of Jacob's death.
Daily Mail
12 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Mother 'murdered her two young children then went to group therapy and JOKED about it'
A mother charged with murdering her two youngest children went to a group therapy meeting hours after their deaths and joked about strangling them, prosecutors allege. Catherine Hoggle was arrested and charged on Friday with the 2014 murders of three-year-old Sarah and two-year-old Jacob. Three years prior, a judge had dismissed an earlier indictment charging her with the same crimes, deeming her unfit to stand trial due to her mental health. On Tuesday, the court heard prosecutors reveal they have new evidence implying she confessed to the murders. Montgomery County State Attorney John McCarthy told the court she attended a group-therapy session with the father of the children, Troy Turney, hours after their deaths. 'At that point in time, she made a comment to a woman that was in those therapy sessions with her that she had strangled her children,' McCarthy said. He alleged Hoggle made a 'strangling' motion with her hands before ultimately insisting she was joking. He argued against her request to be released on bond, noting there was a third, surviving child she could attempt to harm if freed. Police allege Hoggle was last seen with little Jacob on September 7, 2014, after driving off with him. She returned home and allegedly told family members she had dropped him to a friend's house for a sleepover. That night, police allege Hoggle secretly took Sarah from the home. Neither Sarah or Jacob have ever been seen again. The new warrant states investigators met with a criminal profiler with the FBI who noted: 'It was their belief that the children were murdered, likely by strangulation and their bodies were disposed of via an outside trash container.' Hoggle had allegedly intended to abduct the children's older brother, then five, from his school bus stop but the plan was foiled by the boy's father. She was initially arrested and charged with neglect and abduction, both misdemeanors. She was sent to the state-run psychiatric hospital for treatment. Then in 2017, she was indicted on murder charges. A judge ruled she was incompetent to stand trial and imposed continuing court-ordered treatment. Under state law, authorities had five years to declare her competent to stand trial; otherwise, criminal charges would be dismissed. Hoggle has long suffered from severe mental illness. She has a history of schizophrenia and was treated with antipsychotic medications after her arrest. In 2022, a Montgomery County judge dropped the charges against her, citing the five-year time limit. Hoggle was ordered to remain involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment because she was still considered a danger to herself or others. McCarthy vowed then that if she were ever deemed no longer a threat and released, he would charge her again with murder.
