I'm innocent': Perth mother separated from children for crime she didn't commit
- Details
- Category: Child Protection Western Australia media and newspaper articles
- Created: Tuesday, 23 January 2018 11:10
- Written by Renae Henry - Nine News
Mother fighting to get children back after wrongful conviction.
A Perth mother is fighting to regain custody of her four children, after she was wrongfully convicted of a serious assault against one of them. The 28-year-old, who can’t be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to assaulting her 16 month old daughter in 2010.
She claims that despite her innocence, her lawyer advised her to confess to the crime. “I was told if I didn't, I would probably never see my kids again and that I would probably go to jail for a very long time,” she said.
“I didn’t know what to do, I was 20.”
“Because I'm innocent, because I want my kids back, my kids deserve to be back with me,” the woman said. (9NEWS)
The mother has been separated from her two eldest children for seven years and had two younger children taken from her shortly after birth.
In 2016, the mother’s ex-partner confessed to the assault on Facebook, and has since been convicted and jailed for the crime.
Her lawyer, Dean Richard Love, has also been banned from practicing law for professional misconduct unrelated to this case.
But the mother still hasn’t been allowed custody of her children, because she hasn’t had her conviction quashed.
She said she only gets supervised visits with them four times a year.
This Thursday she’ll take her fight to Western Australia’s Supreme Court to try to formally clear her name, and she’s hoping that will allow her to regain custody of her children.
“Because I'm innocent, because I want my kids back, my kids deserve to be back with me,” she said.
Source : https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/01/23/22/02/perth-mum-separated-from-kids-for-crime-she-didnt-commit
