Mum 'not her normal self' when she inflicted' cruelty on child is sentenced at Portsmouth court

The parent, who cannot be named for legal reasons to protect the child, was spared jail at Portsmouth Crown Court for the offence between March and December in 2019.

The woman, aged in her 40s, admitted a charge of cruelty to a child under 16 after she had failed to provide adequate nutritional care to the boy during a bout of ‘adverse trauma’.

Judge Timothy Mousley QC said: ‘At that time you were going through extreme difficulties and were not your normal self. You were struggling with so many things.

‘You presented with underlying issues relating to the management of your mental health.’

The woman, who has no previous convictions to her name, was handed a two-year community order which included 20 rehabilitation days.

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