Young girl was hallucinating, inconsolable after ingesting methamphetamine, criminal neglect trial is told

A three-year-old girl was hallucinating, rocking back and forth and inconsolable after she was left unattended and drank bong water or drug-laced soft drink, a criminal neglect trial has heard. 

The girl’s mother, Bianca Jean Conlon, has gone on trial in Adelaide’s District Court, accused of criminally neglecting her child in April 2019. 

Prosecutor Rebecca Anderson told the court the young girl was left unattended for a period of time at night, before Ms Conlon found her daughter exhibiting strange behaviours on the couch.

The prosecutor alleges the girl consumed methamphetamine by drinking bong water or by drinking a meth-laced soft drink that had been left on a coffee table.

Ms Anderson said Ms Conlon contacted her friend, Tanika Carlton, and sent her a video of the child, who was rocking back and forth and speaking repetitively to herself.

“Ms Carlton received further messages from the accused, asking Ms Carlton to come over as [the child] would not stop and she was freaking out,” she said.

The court heard that Ms Carlton brought Joshua Davies with her, who was Ms Conlon’s ex- partner.

“Ms Carlton and Mr Davies were so concerned by the child’s behaviour that they told the accused they’d need to go to hospital,” Ms Anderson said.

In her evidence to the trial, Ms Carlton said she convinced the accused to seek medical help.

“I told her it had happened and it needed to be dealt with,” she said.

“She needed to right her wrongs, deal with the consequences later on.”

Girl was ‘distressed and inconsolable’, court hears

The prosecutor said the accused did not want her daughter to be taken for medical treatment, saying she was scared the Department for Child Protection would take her from her care.

However, the child was driven to Murray Bridge Hospital where she tested positive to methamphetamine, she was then transferred to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

“[Her] symptoms became more intense and acute,” Ms Anderson told the court. 

“She was beginning to have hallucinations, she was continuing to rock back and forth. She was described as ‘distressed and inconsolable’.

“These symptoms, including hallucinations and agitation, continued [for] around 48 hours after she first presented to the Murray Bridge hospital.”

Ms Conlon’s defence lawyer said the prosecution had not clearly indicated the elements of neglect.

“There has to be some clarity about what it is that my client was meant to have done or not done, specifically leading to the ingestion of drugs by [the child].”