The father of an Adelaide baby who was left with severe bruising and abrasions after she was beaten by her mother has spoken of his outrage and disgust at the lenient punishment handed out.
Lorien Norman, 26, pleaded guilty to causing harm with intent after she beat her daughter Evie, then 8 months, with a slotted spoon. She walked away from a charge that carries a maximum of 13 years without spending a day in prison.
Evie’s father, Shane McMahon, who now has full custody of both children he shares with Norman, has given an interview to Today Tonight, reliving the horrific moment he saw his beaten baby.
“I had a phone call from major crime team detectives saying she’d been rushed to [hospital] with life threatening head injuries,” Mr McMahon told Today Tonight.
“She was in tears, she was in agony and she was screaming. It was shocking, she was so black and blue. Her entire face was swollen.”
“She just wanted to have a bottle and go to sleep on my chest but she couldn’t even touch the bottle… She was so sore. She couldn’t eat or drink for days,” Mr McMahon added.
“How can you not get [jail] time for that? How can you not get time for beating a baby black and blue? It’s a joke. An absolute joke. You get a couple of thousand dollar fine for going through a red light in Victoria and she walks away with a $500 bond for nearly killing her child. It’s horrible.”
District Court Judge Jack Costello determined that the extensive injuries would heal completely, so sentenced Norman to a two-year good behaviour bond and a $500 fine.
The court heard that Norman had called the police on October 1 last year, threatening to throw Evie off a balcony.
When police arrived, they found the baby with bruises all over her face and took both mother and child to hospital.
A paediatrician told the court that the baby had bruising on her forehead, cheeks, ears, neck and arm, caused by “at least eight separate blows to the face and body” with a slotted spoon and hand.
Despite initially claiming Evie had received the bruises on the playground, she eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated causing harm with intent.
Judge Costello told the Adelaide District Court: “Whilst any assault of a child, particularly one of such a tender age and vulnerability, by a parent stands as a gross breach of trust, your offending is nevertheless far from the most serious of offending of this type in terms of the degree of force involved and the duration of the offending.”
“In this respect I particularly note the opinion of the treating paediatrician to the effect that there was no evidence of bony or intracranial injury and that your daughter’s physical injuries were likely to completely resolve,” he added.
Mr McMahon worries Evie’s mental scars from the attack will never heal.
The 21-day appeal window on Norman’s sentence is set to expire tomorrow. A petition for a retrial has already garnered over 100,000 signatures.
