For 72 unforgettable minutes yesterday, a Brisbane jury watched a mother kill her own child.
A hidden camera concealed in an air-conditioning vent above nine-month-old Bray Metius' cot at Brisbane's Mater Children's Hospital captured his dying moments at the hands of his mother, Candaneace, 21, who smothered him with her hands and body on October 21, 2004.
Metius, now 24, admits suffocating the infant, but has pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of her unsound mental state at the time. She is expected to argue diminished responsibility during her Supreme Court trial, which began this week.
The macabre surveillance footage, played to the court yesterday, shows Metius cradling Bray in her arms before placing him back in his cot and covering his nose and mouth with her hands until he stops moving.
She is also seen repeatedly tampering with an oxygen saturation machine attached to the baby to measure the amount of oxygen in his bloodstream.
Crown prosecutors say Metius deliberately disabled an audible alarm on the machine which would have alerted nursing staff to Bray's suffocation.
The youngster was revived once during the one-hour and 12-minute ordeal, but died after Metius was filmed laying on top of him.
The court was told a relative later overheard Metius tell the dead baby: "I'm sorry but I couldn't have you in my life right now."
Members of the jury became visibly upset while viewing the hidden camera footage, and continually shot glances at Metius, who sobbed loudly and buried her face in her hands in the dock.
It has not been explained why the hospital room was fitted with the secret recording devices. However, Crown prosecutor Leanne Clare said Bray had to be revived several other times in the months leading up to his death after he mysteriously stopped breathing. On each occasion, Metius was the only person present.
Ms Clare said despite a battery of tests, doctors had found no medical explanation for these repeated "hypoxic episodes".
He was left severely brain damaged following one episode due to prolonged oxygen starvation.
An interactive crime scene demonstration tendered as evidence revealed the hospital room where Bray was killed, in ward eight south at the Mater, was just a few paces from a nurses station. There were also windows on all sides, including one looking out onto a children's playground.
The trial continues.
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1 comment:
I hope the bitch gets life.. selfish acts to a poor defencless child and of course they pleed the insanity class. It makes y ou sick to read what she did and prey that it never happens again.
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