Teen’s tears for dead baby brother after mum’s cruelty

A teenage boy delivered an emotional courtroom speech condemning his mother as she admitted criminal cruelty towards her murdered younger brother.

The badly injured newborn, named Michael, was just 37 days old and was lying on his drug-addict mother’s chest when he suddenly went silent.

His head drooped and he stopped breathing.

Two hours later the baby died.

Her mother, Kristie Lee Willmot, was released from the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday with a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to cruelty to children.

But he will have to live with the disgust of Michael’s older brother William, who says he can never forgive him.

The 14-year-old boy gave a powerful victim impact statement upon his mother’s sentencing, crying only when he remembered his little brother.

“Michael Willmot was my little brother,” the teenager said.

“When baby Michael was killed, I was so confused and disgusted. I couldn’t understand how anyone could do such a thing.”

William said he was trying to rebuild his relationship with his mother and bond with his younger brother before she died.

“What happened to baby Michael is unfair. I will never see my brother again in this world.

“I will never watch him grow up, play with him, talk to him or watch him play.

“The actions of others took that away from me; people must be responsible for their actions.”

Willmot did not look at his eldest son during his emotional statement.

After months of negotiations, the murder charge against Willmot was dropped before he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of child cruelty.

Michael had been in his mother’s care for less than two weeks when she left him in a small caravan with her new boyfriend, Robert Alan Gee, so she could find drugs, the court heard.

She was absent for less than an hour in June 2021, but during that time Gee shook the baby so violently that she suffered “catastrophic” head injuries.

The newborn baby was also thrown into the trailer, suffering broken ribs and tibia, retinal hemorrhages, and bruising to his scalp and hips.

Gee later sent a photo to Willmot’s mobile phone showing her baby Michael was okay, but when he returned he immediately knew something was wrong.

The mother did nothing because she was already being monitored by the relevant child welfare officials.

Over the weekend, Michael’s condition worsened.

The weak baby developed a fever and refused to be fed, and the court accepted he would be in great pain.

“I think I should have taken him to the hospital last night,” Willmot said in his text message.

“I don’t know what to do now. He’s not getting better and it really scares me. But I can almost guarantee that days later we’ll be taking him to the hospital with an unknown injury, he won’t be coming home with me.”

“Child services has already flagged me for possible neglect.”

Baby Michael stopped breathing at 6.44pm on the fourth day after his injury.

Paramedics were called and were able to resuscitate the baby, but at 8.14pm the baby was pronounced dead.

Judge Martin Burns said: “He knew that not taking the child to medical attention was likely to cause harm.” he said.

“There is no suggestion that he knew what happened to the baby.

“He is not criminally responsible for the baby’s death. He did not cause the injuries and was in fact misled by the other defendants.”

However, he said Willmot was more interested in the child services being informed about this than the baby’s health.

The woman was sentenced to four years in prison, suspended for the 756 days she remained in custody.

Gee pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a brief hearing on Friday and will be sentenced in November.