A mother who attempted to kidnap her child and take them to a ‘sovereign state’ has been sentenced to two years behind bars for her bizarre plot.
The woman, who cannot be named to protect her child, had been found guilty in September of abducting her child from a Wollongong park, 80km south of Sydney.
During sentencing on Monday, Judge Andrew Haesler told Wollongong District Court the inexcusable abduction had been premeditated, the ABC reports.
‘Her real intention was to remove [the child] and take [them] to a sovereign state in NSW where she could live with [the child]… and not be subject to the laws of NSW,’ he said.
‘The offender’s various motives cannot excuse what she did. If it was a protest, she used her child for political ends… it was a criminal act of some seriousness.’
The court heard the woman organised to rent a van the day before the Department of Communities and Justice organised for her to meet with her child in December 2022.
It’s understood the woman handed a worker a ‘statement of notice’ which said she did not recognise the court’s authority and included her thumb print for identification.
The woman’s notice said she was ‘a living being sovereign to this land’ who ‘hereby renounce and reject my former engagement with the courts… and their kronies (sic)… and disregard all orders as null and void’.
A woman, who cannot be named to not to identify her child, was found guilty of abducting her child from a Wollongong park (stock image)
The court heard that she drove away with her unrestrained child in the van before police intercepted them three hours later north of Sydney.
On Monday, the woman, who appeared via video link from Dillwynia Women’s Correctional Centre, was sentenced to a two-year prison term.
In a fiery judgement, Judge Haesler told the court the woman’s decision to represent herself during the trial ‘did herself no favours’.
‘[She] does not accept the jurisdiction of this court,’ he said.
‘[She] does not believe the laws of NSW apply to her; she was wrong.’
Judge Haesler also criticised the woman’s behaviour during the trial, including regular interruptions which led him to find her in contempt of court.
‘[She] repeatedly interjected, directed personal insults to me and others, harassed witnesses (including her own [children]), refused my directions and orders and talked over me excessively,’ he said.
‘[She] was deliberately trying to undermine the trial process in order to the secure a discharge of the jury and a delay in hearing the serious allegation made against her.’
Judge Andrew Haesler criticised the woman’s behaviour during the trial, including regular interruptions which led him to find her in contempt of court (stock image)
On the first day of the trial, the woman refused to enter a plea.
The court also heard she was a long-time public housing resident.
‘The irony of someone who wants to divorce themselves from the state while benefiting from the state in terms of social housing,’ Judge Haesler said.
‘But people aren’t consistent in their lives.’
The judge issued a non-parole period of 11 months for abducting the child, backdated to May 4, 2024, meaning she will be eligible for parole on April 4.
