A 27-year-old Perth woman who admitted unlawfully killing her five-month-old son has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Melissa Louise Bulloch pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her son Lochlan, who was found dead at their Hamilton Hill home in January 2014.
The infant suffered severe brain injuries, bruising to his head and neck, and had drugs in his system, although the drugs did not contribute to his death. Justice John Chaney, sentencing in the West Australian Supreme Court, said Bulloch's conduct involved a significant degree of violence and trauma on an extremely vulnerable child who depended on her for his safety.
The court heard that Bulloch's drug use was out of control and affected her parenting, causing her to act impulsively and unpredictably. In the months leading up to the death, she had blown cannabis smoke into the baby's face, left him in a car, and shaken and sworn at him.
Justice Chaney accepted that the baby's death was a source of considerable distress for Bulloch and that she had developed some degree of remorse. In a letter read to the court, Bulloch expressed sorrow, saying she lived every day knowing she would not be a mother to her son.
Bulloch's sentence was backdated to December 2014, when she was taken into custody, and she will be eligible for parole in December 2020.
