A drug-addicted mother has been walked free from court despite authorities finding life-threatening levels of methamphetamine and cannabis in the system of her 13-week-old baby.
Sarah Joanne Brice, 34, was arrested and charged in January 2021 after she was found by police on the driveway of her Caversham home “visibly on drugs” and holding her baby.
Sarah Joanne Brice, 34, is accused of recklessness causing her son to have meth in his body.Credit: Facebook
The police had been called by her partner and the father of the child, also a drug user, who was concerned she could not care for him properly.
Brice then claimed the man had punched her in the face moments before their arrival, and police said she had a large bruise swelling on her cheek.
Police tried to assess the baby, whom they claimed was unresponsive, but Brice was “reluctant” to let them look at him.
Police ultimately intervened and the child was taken first to Midland’s St John of God Hospital and then Perth Children’s Hospital, where an assessment revealed the baby had soft tissue injuries to his head and skull “and had extremely life-threatening levels of methamphetamine and cannabis” in his system.
Medical experts later discussed how the drugs got into the baby’s system, with one saying it could have been via breastfeeding with another arguing it would have been impossible to ingest so much in that way.
Passive smoking was also touted as an explanation, but experts ultimately disagreed that it was not possible to ingest that much drugs in that manner.
Despite pleading guilty to a charge of having care or control of a child engaged in conduct that was reckless and may have resulted in that child suffering, Judge Gary Massey said he felt a pre-sentence order would be in Brice’s best interests, instructing her to get treatment for her addiction.
“This is a difficult sentencing decision,” Massey said on Friday at Perth District Court.
“This does warrant a period of imprisonment but I do think a pre-sentence order would address the matters that led to your offending.”
Brice has spent almost a year in custody and during that time has become drug-free, the court heard.
In making his decision, Massey said he took into consideration that Brice had been a victim of physical and emotional domestic violence at the hands of her former partner and called the man’s his behaviour “extremely intimidating”.
He also said that it could not be determined whether the drugs had been administered directly to the child.
“The offending itself is serious and I don’t want to minimise the seriousness but it’s not as serious as if you had administered the drugs deliberately,” he said.
Sarah Joanne Brice pleaded guilty to recklessness that allowed her son to have significant levels of meth in his system.Credit: Facebook
Massey added that footage taken by police officers on the day of the offending showed Brice cared very much for her child.
“The grief you showed when he was taken from you was palpable,” he said.
Both of Brice’s children are in the care of her mother and she will have to engage with drug rehabilitation programs for the duration of the 12-month pre-sentence order.
A report will also be handed to Massey every three months on her progress.
Brice’s lawyer told the court her client was keen to get help for her drug issues.
“She wants help,” she said. “She wants to change. She’s never had the opportunity to get help before.”
Massey had asked for a medical report prior to Friday’s hearing, outlining the long-term impacts of the drug ingestion on the baby but was told it would take three months to compile.
Instead he conceded that other reports showed that by the time he was released from hospital, he was “settled”.
Brice will also be sentenced on Friday afternoon in Perth Magistrates Court for separate offences.
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