Mother stands trial accused of 'criminally negligent conduct' that resulted in daughter's death
Jenni Wilmott leaves court with her lawyer on the first day of her trial. (ABC News: Eva Blandis)
In short:
A woman is standing trial accused of the manslaughter and criminal neglect of her teenage daughter.
Prosecutors allege Jenni Gaye Wilmott physically and emotionally abused 15-year-old Jasmine over five years before her death in 2018.
What's next?
The trial, which is being heard without a jury, is continuing.
A mother should be held criminally responsible for the death of her 15-year-old daughter, who she allegedly subjected to physical and emotional abuse for a period of five years, a court has heard.
Warning: This story includes references to child abuse and self-harm.
Jenni Gaye Wilmott, 56, is standing trial in South Australia’s Supreme Court after previously pleading not guilty to the manslaughter and criminal neglect of her daughter, Jasmine, who took her own life in October 2018.
In her opening address, prosecutor Jemma Litster said it was alleged Ms Wilmott's conduct during the five years before Jasmine's death had included withholding food, cutting her hair, locking her in an alarmed bedroom, and making her do excessive chores in her underwear.
At the time of her suicide on October 4, 2018, Jasmine weighed 32 kilograms, was 144 centimetres tall, and had a body mass index of 15.4.
She was taken to hospital, where she was taken off life support two days later on October 6, 2018.
"It is the prosecution's case that whilst other matters in her life may have served to amplify her psychological suffering, the accused's course of negligent conduct was so significant and overwhelming that it comprised as a substantial cause of her death," Ms Litster said.
"Her catastrophic act of self-harm was a natural, albeit tragic, response to the circumstances created by the course of conduct of Ms Wilmott."
Ms Litster told the court it was alleged Ms Wilmott had told people Jasmine had various conditions, including an eating disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder — but she had not been diagnosed with those conditions.
"It is contended that Ms Wilmott killed her daughter Jasmine and that she did so through criminally negligent conduct as a carer,"Ms Litster said.
Jenni Wilmott is standing trial accused of the manslaughter and criminal neglect of her daughter. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
She also told the court that Ms Wilmott's relationship with her daughter was "heavily characterised by an overarching resentment towards her".
"On the prosecution's case, she marginalised her within the home and treated her as a burden,"she said.
Ms Litster said copies of "writings and notes" found in Jasmine's room at the time of her death would be provided to the court.
"Each of those, on the prosecution's case, indicates that she was a girl who had become degraded by the experience of Jenni Wilmott's treatment of her," she said.
She also told the court it would hear allegations that neighbours heard "the sounds of actual physical abuse" and "yelling" at the Wilmott household, and that at one stage Jasmine was made to sleep in a locked and "freezing" laundry that was "unfit for living".
"It's the prosecution's case that Jasmine's safety and comfort were not a priority," Ms Litster said.
Jasmine was taken off life support after two days at the Women's and Children's Hospital. (ABC News: Marco Catalano)
She said that Ms Wilmott spent "a limited time" at the Women's and Children's Hospital during the two days Jasmine was on life support.
"She returned home where she spent her time cleaning Jasmine's room and throwing out her personal effects," she said.
Ms Litster also said that when the investigation into Ms Wilmott began in 2020, Jasmine did not have a grave.
"Jasmine's ashes were interred in the grave of Jenni Wilmott's father; there was no grave marking memorialising her life as at the time of the investigation in 2020," she said.
Ms Wilmott has denied all of the allegations.
The trial, before Supreme Court Justice Sandi McDonald without a jury, continues.