Mother of baby found dead in freezer spared jail
Monique Ellen Burton gave birth to a child, known as Baby Burton, in secret in the lounge room of her home at Geraldton in Western Australia in August 2022.
The now 35-year-old said the child was stillborn.
She wrapped the body up in her leggings before concealing the baby in a black garbage bag which she hid behind her couch.
Burton kept the pregnancy secret from her partner of 14 years Shaun Balaam, who was not the biological father, and kept lying even after he took her to hospital despite inquiries from staff.
Later, when Balaam popped home he found the bag, he thought he may have felt a head inside and hid the bag in a freezer on their veranda.
Burton, still in hospital, was unaware he did this at the time but later told police what happened.
It was not the first pregnancy she kept secret and Burton repeatedly lied about having liver issues to explain away her pregnancy symptoms including her swollen belly.
She told police her memory of the events was "really fuzzy" and she disassociated.
Earlier this week, Burton pleaded guilty to one count of interfering with a corpse to prevent or prejudice an investigation.
During sentencing in the District Court on Friday, Judge Darren Renton said it was not possible to determine Baby Burton's cause of death because he was placed in the freezer but it was likely he was stillborn.
"You said there was no noise from the baby and he looked like a doll," he noted.
The mother was handed an 19-month suspended jail sentence, with the judge finding her motive for hiding the pregnancy stemmed from a desire to avoid the consequences of what would happen if the secret was found out.
"What you did involved a degree of indignity towards Baby Burton and would quite rightly be viewed as repugnant by members of the community," Judge Renton said.
He said she had expressed significant remorse and had a low risk of reoffending.
She was also hit with fraud charges related to a GoFundMe someone else set up to cover expenses related to her ficticious liver issues, although the judge noted she did not create the fundraiser and even though she accepted more than $3000 her actions were "largely passive".
Balaam pleaded guilty to a similar crime and was previously handed an 18 month community corrections order.
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