An Australian influencer has been accused of poisoning her baby girl in order to gain donations and increase her online following.
A Queensland woman claimed she was documenting her child’s battle with the terminal illness on social media, but detectives claim she drugged the one-year-old and then filmed her in “extreme distress and pain”.
Doctors raised the alarm in October, when the baby was admitted to hospital for a serious medical episode.
After months of investigation, the 34-year-old woman was charged with torture, administering poison, creating material for child exploitation and fraud.
“[There are] there are no words for how despicable offenses of this nature are,” Paul Dalton, police Det Insp., told reporters Thursday.
Between August and October, detectives say the woman – from the Sunshine Coast region – gave the child several prescription and pharmacy drugs, without approval.
She went out of her way to obtain unapproved drugs and cover up her behavior, they claimed, including using leftover drugs for another person in their home.
Police began investigating on October 15, when the baby was brought to hospital suffering “severe emotional and physical pain and injuries”. Tests for unapproved drugs came back positive later in January, they said.
The woman raised A$60,000 (£30,500; $37,300) through GoFundMe donations – which the page is trying to pay back, Det Insp Dalton said.
Police were investigating other people for the alleged abuse, but there was no evidence to charge anyone else, he added.
The woman is due to face Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday.
