An Australian influencer is due to face Brisbane Magistrates Court after being charged with torturing her baby girl, as the mother falsely claimed her child had a terminal illness when she was in fact 'poisoning' her with illegally obtained medication.
Social media is ripe with false actors that exploit vulnerable situations for financial gain, and one case involving an Australian influencer and her child is unfortunately a prime example of this.
The mother, due to face courts this week, has been charged after doctors and police concluded an investigation revealing that she had been poisoning her child under the false claim that she had a terminal illness in order to elicit donations from her online followers.
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She would regularly share videos on her social media platforms of the child in "immense distress and pain," as reported by the BBC, in order to garner sympathy and boost her following online.
The several-month long investigation unveiled that she had been drugging her one-year-old baby with several different prescription and pharmacy medicines, which were obtained through nefarious means - including the use of medicine left over from other individuals in the influencer's home.
Charges levied against the 34-year-old include torture, administering poison, making child exploitation material, and fraud, due to the fact that she used her child's torture for her own financial gain.
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It is understood that she managed to raise around A$60,000 ($37,500) through a GoFundMe campaign she set up in support of her child's supposed terminal illness, and the website is working on refunding any donations.
Queensland Police Department Inspector Paul Dalton outlined in a statement that "[There are] no words for how repulsive offences of this nature are," but thankfully affirmed that the child in question is "safe and doing well."
Authorities were altered to the child's situation on October 15, 2024, following an incident in which she was taken to hospital following a serious medical episode, in which it was described that the baby was experiencing "severe emotional and physical distress and harm."
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Doctors were then made aware of the aforementioned nefariously obtained medicines within the baby's system, which indicated that things might not be what they seem.
The social media reaction to the news has understandably been that of anger, with one commenter on the r/australia subreddit declaring: "WTF is wrong with people. She needs to be locked up for a very long time."
Another adds that "this p***es me off because I know of families who have needed to crowd fund for money to help their children, legitimate cases and s*** like this f***s it for everyone who desperately need it."