The guardians of an autistic boy are behind bars after they pleaded guilty to neglect and physical abuse following a violent outburst when he refused to wash the dishes.
The adoptive parents of the seven-year-old boy from regional Western Australia, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, appeared in Perth District Court on Thursday.
The court heard that the foster mother, 31, asked the boy to wash the dishes in April 2023, but he refused and kicked her, prompting her to push him against a wooden table where he hit his head and He was unconscious, he reported. WA today.
The woman called her 33-year-old partner, who returned home and helped put the child, who was still unconscious, into a hot bath because he was cold.
The court heard the water was too hot and burned a quarter of his body, requiring skin grafts, but the boy did not react because he was unconscious.
The couple put the boy to bed, even though he had still regained consciousness, and returned the next morning to find him unconscious and with his eyes rolled back in his head.
At 2pm the boy was finally taken to hospital, where it was discovered he had suffered a brain haemorrhage and the Royal Flying Doctor Service airlifted him to Perth Children’s Hospital for surgery.
He recovered but has a brain injury, a scar from surgery and has required multiple skin graft operations.
A 7-year-old autistic boy was pushed back against a wooden table and hit his head, suffering a brain hemorrhage, when he refused to wash the dishes and kicked his adoptive mother (file image)
It was almost a full day before the boy’s adoptive parents took him to hospital, where he was flown to Perth for surgery (file image)
The foster mother later told police that the boy had hit his head while faking a seizure.
He also told them he wouldn’t hurt his children, but added that he “used to” hit them until he realized she was “becoming like their mother.”
Police found a text message she had sent to her partner, who is the boy’s biological uncle and father of her three children, complaining that “the bastards broke down the door.”
Just don’t insist any more. We can’t risk something going wrong. Lock him in the bedroom,’ the man replied.
The boy’s biological mother, from New South Wales, had suggested her brother and his partner look after the boy after a previous placement in Queensland didn’t work out.
During their regular video calls, she noticed that the boy’s attitude had worsened since moving to WA and that he often wore long clothes despite the hot weather. Police later said they found multiple bruises on the child.
The court heard the boy had been diagnosed with autism, ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder and the adoptive parents were not prepared to treat him.
However, Judge Linda Petrusa said the couple had agreed to keep the boy and had not sought help or requested to have him moved.
The couple’s biological children are in the care of the State.
They are to be sentenced on October 4.
