Neighbour called abuse line to report mother accused of daughter's neglect, court hears
Jasmine was allegedly criminally neglected by her mother, Jenni Wilmott, who is standing trial in South Australia's Supreme Court. (Supplied: SA Supreme Court)
In short:
A former neighbour of Jenni Wilmott, who is standing trial accused of the manslaughter and criminal neglect of her 15-year-old daughter Jasmine, has told a court she had heard yelling coming from the house.
The neighbour said she had called an abuse phone line on one occasion, but her call was not answered.
What's next?
The trial, which is being heard without a jury, is continuing.
A former neighbour of a woman standing trial for the manslaughter of her daughter attempted to report "really loud screaming" to an abuse phone line, but her call went unanswered, a South Australian court has heard.
Warning: This story includes references to child abuse and self-harm, which may be distressing to readers.
Jenni Gaye Wilmott, 56, is standing trial in the Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to the criminal neglect and manslaughter of her daughter Jasmine.
Jasmine took her own life in October 2018.
A prosecutor previously told the court that it was alleged that prior to her death that she had endured five years of criminal neglect at the hands of Ms Wilmott.
On Tuesday a former neighbour of the family said she would "quite often [hear] yelling from the home", and that on one occasion she grew concerned enough to call an abuse line, but her call went unanswered.
The woman did not specify which abuse line she had called.
The woman said she looked over the fence after she heard a "child screaming crying" and "a woman's voice yelling at the child to hang [the washing] faster".
Jenni Wilmott has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and criminal neglect. (ABC News: Dean Faulkner)
The neighbour said the child had a "small, thin build", "dark hair" and appeared to be of Asian descent.
"She was saying, 'I'm trying, I'm trying,'" the neighbour told the court.
"It got louder and louder and the child became more and more distressed, which made me ring the helpline.
"I rang the abuse line but I sat on there for a solid hour with no response.
"I just hung onto the phone and by the time I was thinking of hanging up, all the yelling had stopped."
Jasmine died in October 2018. (Supplied: SA Supreme Court)
'It just didn't look right'
Another neighbour told the court that in June 2017 he observed a child "only dressed in her underwear" being "told to … put the rubbish in the bin that was on the top of the driveway".
"I heard some crying … a young girl crying, but not just a normal crying, a really distressed crying," he said.
"It was a female child, roughly about 10 years old and only had underwear pants and that's all and I was a bit distressed, and I was thinking of yelling out … it didn't look right. It just didn't look right."
The court was previously played a recorded interview from 2022 in which a child who lived with Ms Wilmott said the treatment of Jasmine "wasn't that good" and that she was "hit a lot" and locked in her room.
The child told police Jasmine was "usually" hit on the "back, or the back of the legs, or places you wouldn't notice it".
"[Ms Wilmott] mostly used her hand, and she sometimes used like a wooden spoon and … a rolling pin," the child said in the interview.
"[Ms Wilmott] would call her, like, a lying wench … deceitful as well."
The child also said on one occasion, Jasmine was told to "hit herself and [Ms Wilmott] was filming it".
The trial, which is being heard without a jury, continues.