CHILD’S ORDEAL

Northern Advocate, 4 August 1932, Page 9

CHILD’S ORDEAL

SEWN IN STBATT.TACKET. * MOTHER’S OBSESSION. SYDNEY, August .‘!. A pitiful case of a mother's obsession which preyed on her mind so cruelly that she laced her daughter in a straitjacket every night to prevent, her being harmed has come to the notice of the police. The eight-year-old child has been unable to move more than slightly at night for 18 months. The police had no alternative but to take the girl, who had become a weakling, to a children's hpmo. - Her mother was admitted to the Deception House. Sergeant Armtiold detailed Policewomen Mooney and Ledger, of the Criminal Investigation Branch, to accompany Detective Oilbcrt to a house in Abecrombio Street, city. They climbed to a top room, whore they found the child asleep beside her mother. She was unable to move, and the straitjacket. had to be cut from her body before she could be released. The apparatus weighed more than 101 b. The police cut through layers of cardboard, oilcloth, padding, blankets, and cloth before the stiff suit fell a wav.

The only open parts of the suit were at the head, neck, and chest. The. mother told the police that she sowed the girl into the suit every evening at 8 o’clock, and did not release her until the morning. She added that, it was the only method she could use to prevent her daughter being harmed. The girl had suffered through her treatment. She was small and weak for her age, and her intelligence was threatened by the fact that she had been cloistered and had never been to school.