FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 3): Gosford,
Tuesday. — Gosford Petty Sessions was told today that
a woman admitted having killed her six new-born babies and disposed of their bodies between 1961 and 1968 without
the knowledge of her husband.
Before the court was Barbara Wilkinson, 29, formerly of Central Man grove, who was charged with having murdered the babies at Wahroonga, Brooklyn, Enfield and Central Mangrove.
Before the court was Barbara Wilkinson, 29, formerly of Central Man grove, who was charged with having murdered the babies at Wahroonga, Brooklyn, Enfield and Central Mangrove.
She was charged also with having
wilfully concealed the birth of the babies by disposing of their bodies.
Detective-Sergeant William Thomas
Holmes, of Gosford, said Wilkinson had admitted having had six babies and killed them all.
She had told him her husband knew she
was pregnant twice, but on the other occasions she had told him she had fluid
on the stomach and be had believed her.
Wilkinson had shown police the
shallow graves of three babies at Central Man grove, and had indicated others at Brooklyn
and Gunderman.
Holmes tendered a record of interview
in which Wilkinson admitted killing and burying six babies between October, 1961,
and November, 1968.
The record said she had first become
pregnant while working at the Home of Peace Hospital, Wahroonga. She had given birth
to a baby in the hospital bath room on October 31, 1961, her fiance’s 21st
birthday.
She had had a miscarriage in 1965.
The hearing was adjourned till
tomorrow.
[“Six
Dead Babies - Mother said to have
confessed ,” The Canberra Times (Australia), Apr. 30, 1969, p. 3]
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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 3): Sydney,
Tuesday. — A 29-year-old woman had murdered six children to which she had given
birth in seven years, a Crown prosecutor alleged in the Central Criminal Court
today.
The deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor,
Mr L. G. Tanner, said this in his opening address at the trial of Mrs Barbara Wilkinson, of Wiseman’s Ferry
Road, Central Mangrove.
Mrs Wilkinson pleaded not guilty before Mr Justice Collins and an all-male
jury to six charges of murdering her six newborn children.
She is charged with having murdered
the babies at Wahroonga, in October, 1961, at Brooklyn in March, 1963, Enfield
in February, 1965, and at Central Mangrove in 1966, 1967 and November, 1968.
~ Details of births ~
Mr Tanner said that in 1961 Wilkinson had been keeping
company with a man who later became her husband. She became pregnant.
In October that year she delivered
her own child in the bathroom of the place at Wahroonga where she worked.
She had smothered the baby with a
blanket and later had thrown it from a car. In March, 1963, Wilkinson had given
birth to an other baby in a vacant allotment in Brooklyn, she smothered the
child and buried it.
During February the next year she had
smothered and buried another child. At Central Mangrove in 1966 she had
smothered a new born baby and hid it under a sheet of galvanised iron in rough
bush.
In 1967 Wilkinson had left the body of
another baby in a bucket under a tree. On November 24, last year, she had given
birth to another baby in bush at Central Mangrove. Mr Tanner said Wilkinson had tried to
strangle it but hit it on the head with a rock after it started to cry.
~ Conclusions on death ~
Doctor Olaf McLure Spence of Paul
Lane, Cosford, the area’s Government Medical Officer, told the court he had
examined the partly decomposed body ol a male baby in a vacant allotment in Wiseman's Ferry Road.
He concluded that the baby had died
from a blow on the back of the skull. The baby had died about five days earlier
and signs of haemorrhage in the brain showed that its heart was probably beating after birth.
Dr Spence said he could not tell
whether the baby’s lungs had ever expanded after
birth. Cross-examined by the Senior Public
Defender.
Mr H. F. Purnell, for Wilkinson, Dr
Spence said the in jury on the back of the baby’s head could have been caused
in several ways besides a blow with a rock. Mr
Justice Collins adjourned the hearing until tomorrow.
[“Court told children killed,” The Canberra
Times (Australia), Aug. 6, 1969, p. 11]
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FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 3): Sydney,
Monday. — A mother charged with the deaths of six newly-born babies was
sentenced in Central Criminal Court today to five years’ gaol.
Barbara Wilkinson, 29, of Central Mangrove, near Gosford, appeared before Mr
Justice Collins for sentence.
Last week a jury found her guilty of
manslaughter, contributing to the death of
the babies and concealment of birth. She was acquitted
of six charges of having murdered her babies at birth.
The jury found she had concealed the
birth of two, contributed to the death of three
and was guilty of manslaughter of the sixth.
The Crown said Wilkinson gave birth
to the babies between 1961 and 1967.
Mr Justice Collins said no defence of
mental illness had been raised.
Wilkinson was sentenced to four years on each of three counts of
contributing to the deaths, 12 months on each of two counts of concealment of
birth and five years on one count of man slaughter.
Mr Justice Collins ordered that the
sentences be served concurrently.
[“Mother gaoled over deaths,” The Canberra Times (Australia), Aug. 19,
1969, p. 10]
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This woman was retarded and spent her sentence plus additional years in a Lunatic Asylum.
ReplyDeleteHer husband was also retarded, and the only real point of this tragedy is the dire need for social supports and education in Australua for intellectually disabled parents.