A woman has been given a two-year suspended sentence after enrolling a mother and her late daughter in swimming lessons just two days after the little girl drowned.
Alana Jade Osborne, 29, appeared in the Pine Rivers Magistrates Court, north of Brisbane, on Friday where she pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful stalking, harassment, intimidation or abuse against the Central Queensland mother, Tahlia Kay Murphy.
The court heard Ms Murphy’s 17-month-old daughter, Taidyn ‘Totty’ Murphy, drowned in a hot tub at the family’s home in Gracemere, south Rockhampton, while Ms Murphy was at work during September 2022.
Mrs. Murphy lost her job the same day. She is not charged with any crime in the death of her daughter.
The boy’s tragic death triggered a year-long barrage of “mental torture” for Ms Murphy, who was targeted by Osborne and co-accused Jessie Ella Ayling.
Tahlia Kay Murphy (pictured with Taidyn ‘Totty’ Murphy) suffered more than a year of ‘mental torture’ following the death of her little boy
Taidyn ‘Totty’ Murphy (pictured) drowned in a hot tub at the family home in Gracemere, south of Rockhampton.
The court heard that between August 12, 2022 and December 7, 2023, the couple created several social media accounts to “mock” Taidyn’s death, mail reported.
On one occasion, just two days after the drowning, Osborne enrolled Murphy and Taidyn in swimming school.
Ms Murphy was left very distraught after being contacted by the school to arrange classes.
Osborne and Ayling would use their series of online profiles to share content and comments about little Taidyn’s drowning, including on Facebook and TikTok.
The content further distressed Ms Murphy as it could be viewed by grieving family members, including her eldest daughter who was then 12 years old.
However, the court heard that the harassment was not just limited to social media: the couple emailed Murphy’s boss demanding she be fired and Osborne at one point sent pizza deliveries to the family’s home.
Magistrate Annette Hennessey recalled Ms Murphy’s emotional impact statement in which she detailed her struggle to properly process the death of her young daughter amid the attack by her co-defendants.
“She said that the harassment and torment caused by you and your co-defendant, during one of the most stressful and heartbreaking times of her life, left her feeling angry, angry and stressed and she contemplated taking her own life on multiple occasions.” Magistrate Hennessey said.
‘She says she felt betrayed and stressed by both the content of the posts and the messages you and your co-accused sent online.
‘When she was in the throes of her grief and then tormented online, she couldn’t think or concentrate on organizing her daughter’s funeral because of her actions.
“You had an eldest daughter at the time, who was 12, and it refers to you also communicating with the daughter with distressing content.”
Alana Jade Osborne and Jessie Ella Ayling harassed Ms Murphy (pictured with Taidyn), including on one occasion when Osborne signed the couple up for swimming lessons just two days after the girl’s death.
Police prosecutor Shiyaad described Osborne and Ayling’s actions as “malicious and depraved”.
“It is inexcusable for the accused and co-accused to mock this death and harass the grieving victim,” he said.
‘The method employed by the defendants to inflict this act of mental torture was complex and relentless.
‘It is even more aggravating that these (two women) not only contacted the victim but also her support systems, which were her family and friends.
“They were cold, calculated and premeditated acts.”
Murphy shared a complicated relationship with both Osborne and Ayling.
She described Osborne as her best friend between 2017 and 2021 and Ms Murphy opened her home to her for four to five months in 2020 while Osborne recovered from amphetamine addiction.
Osborne’s lawyer, Andrew Ferrett, said the couple had known each other since 2012, but became especially close starting in 2016 as they had children around the same time.
However, Osborne began to resent Mrs. Murphy for not empathizing with his struggle with addiction.
“She (Osborne) managed to get off amphetamines and for a time moved to Rockhampton to stay with the victim,” the court heard.
‘Their relationship fractured a bit during that period of time because my client felt that the victim was quite insensitive towards his difficult situation with amphetamine addiction at the time.
“She felt the victim might be condescending to her and insensitive to her situation.”
Osborne and Ayling would post content and comments online about Taidyn’s death (pictured)
After leaving Mrs Murphy’s home, Osborne moved to Brisbane.
Murphy suspected her husband was having an affair with Jessie Ayling in the city and asked Osborne to investigate their relationship.
It is understood that Murphy was in a relationship with Ayling during a brief split from Murphy in 2022.
“My client then came into contact with the co-accused, while she was in a relationship with the victim’s partner and, ironically, became close to the co-accused (Ayling),” Ferrett said.
“She began to have difficulties with the victim and this was compounded by the acrimonious relationship between Jessie (Ayling) and the victim Tahlia, as a result of Tahlia’s partner Cecil having a relationship with Jessie.”
The court heard several factors from Osborne’s life and upbringing, including the fact that she was raised primarily by a controlling mother, with whom she had a “difficult” relationship.
That strained relationship left Osborne feeling periodically homeless throughout his childhood, in addition to other problems.
The court also heard Osborne was caring for four children, including a nine-year-old boy whose parents were in prison.
She currently works as a sales assistant in shops and a sales assistant in service stations but is studying Certificate III in pathology.
Osborne is being considered for the Indigenous Liaison Officer position at Metro North Health and hopes to have a career in medical sciences.
Ms Murphy said she was unable to properly mourn Taidyn (pictured) due to the relentless bullying.
Mr and Mrs Murphy have already been sentenced for a revenge attack on Ayling and Osborne, with the help of a third party, on November 30, 2022 in Taigum.
On February 26, 2024, they received a fully suspended 2.5-year sentence for bombing Osborne’s car.
Ayling was sentenced at Ipswich Magistrates Court on May 17 to 12 months’ probation for using a carriage service to threaten, harass or offend and breaching bail conditions.
Osborne was sentenced to 18 months in prison, with the sentence completely suspended for two years.
Magistrate Hennessey also imposed a five-year restraining order on Osborne from contacting Ms Murphy.
His conviction was recorded.
