A woman who delivered a baby boy on the bathroom floor was convicted of manslaughter on Monday.
On June 8, 2014, Jodie Renee Tarnawskyj, 38, went into labor in her Queensland, Australia, home and gave birth to a boy named Oliver. Believing Oliver was stillborn, Tarnawskyj testified that she cut his umbilical cord, wrapped him in a blanket, and left him on a laundry bench. The 38-year-old called an ambulance sixteen hours after giving birth, according to ABC News.
The Gold Coast Bulletin reported that prosecutors announced to the Brisbane Supreme Court Thursday that they are dropping murder charges and the mother-of-two will plead guilty to manslaughter.
Tarnawskyj’s defense attorney John Allen QC said his client accepting an early plea deal was a sign of “a profound sense of guilt, remorse, and loss.”
Though Justice Martin Burns sentenced Tarnawskyj to five years in jail, she was immediately released on parole because she already served two-and-a-half years behind bars.
Prosecutors claimed Oliver was a healthy weight and had no congenital deformities. An autopsy ruled out that the baby was stillborn and must have died due to asphyxiation or an unidentifiable medical ailment.
According to the New York Post, prosecutor Glen Cash told the court that Oliver was alive minutes—even hours—after birth.
While Justice Burns said Tarnawskyj was possibly “overwhelmed, unsupported, and isolated” by her situation, Cash claimed the 38-year-old canceled two appointments to have the pregnancy terminated.
Justice Burns said that he believed Tarnawskyj thought Oliver wasn’t breathing. However, he said he couldn’t grasp why she didn’t check.
“The events can’t be explained by inexperience or immaturity,” Cash commented.