WARNING: This story contains distressing details.<\/p>\n
A woman who secretly gave birth in her lounge room and put the newborn in a plastic bag that was later placed in her backyard freezer has avoided going to prison, despite a Perth judge describing her actions as morally repugnant.<\/p>\n
The judge told a West Australian court the baby was probably stillborn and even though Monique Ellen Burton, 35, \u00a0admitted interfering with a corpse, she was not trying to conceal a crime.<\/p>\n
Burton gave birth in her Geraldton home in 2022, and left the baby boy in a plastic garbage bag she then hid behind a lounge room couch.<\/p>\n
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Burton avoided an immediate jail term and was handed a 19-month suspended sentence. (ABC News: David Weber)<\/p>\n
Her partner, Shaun Bradley Balaam, later found the bag and put it into a chest freezer on the couple’s back verandah, believing it may have contained a baby because Burton had previously concealed pregnancies.<\/p>\n
Methamphetamine was detected in the baby’s system after his body was eventually found by police.<\/p>\n
Judge accepts baby likely stillborn\u00a0<\/p>\n
Burton went to hospital, but over several days she continued to deny to health workers that she had given birth.<\/p>\n
She eventually revealed what had happened and the baby’s body was found in the freezer.<\/p>\n
Tests revealed Balaam, who earlier had also received a suspended sentence for interfering with a corpse, was not the baby’s father.<\/p>\n
“This is a tragic case on numerous levels,” District Court Judge Darren Renton said, referring to the “moral repugnance” of her conduct.<\/p>\n
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Burton put the newborn baby boy in a plastic bag and hid it behind a couch. (ABC News: David Weber)<\/p>\n
The judge said the fact that Balaam was not the child’s father may have partly explained Burton’s actions, even though she had denied this was why she concealed the pregnancy.<\/p>\n
He said it was not possible to determine how the baby died because the body was frozen, although Burton had claimed the infant had been stillborn.<\/p>\n
Her own description was that there was “no noise” from the baby and “he looked like a doll”.<\/p>\n
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Burton gave birth in secret at her home in Geraldton. (ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt: Joanna Prendergast)<\/p>\n
While he had misgivings about her credibility, Judge Renton said “it seems likely that baby Burton was stillborn”.<\/p>\n
But he said there was a “degree of indignity to baby Burton” in the circumstances that followed his birth.<\/p>\n
Judge Renton said the concealment was “not sophisticated” and was not meant to be “permanent,” and if Burton had initially told the health workers the baby was stillborn, she would not have been charged.<\/p>\n
The judge noted that Burton had concealed two previous pregnancies, with one child passing away at a young age.<\/p>\n
GoFundMe fraud charges<\/p>\n