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Te Reringa Kayden Ashley Wetere drowned near Hillarys boat harbour after he was abandoned by his mother, Gemma Killeen.
Lawyers for a 23-year-old Perth woman have urged a Supreme Court judge not to impose a life jail term on her for murdering her young son.
Gemma Killeen abandoned her 22-month-old son, Te Reringa Kayden Ashley Wetere, by the water at Hillarys boat harbour in November 2010.
She then went to another part of the facility and falsely reported that he had been abducted.
While a search was underway in the wrong area, the boy drowned and his body was found by passers-by.
Killeen has pleaded guilty to a charge of murder but her lawyer submitted that his client had not intended to kill her child and had believed he would be found.
The lawyer also said his client was angry about her on-again-off-again relationship with the child’s father and was struggling with the demands of motherhood and working.
The court was told Killeen had her nails done and shopped just hours before she abandoned her son.
Killeen will be sentenced on Friday.
Topics:
courts-and-trials,
murder-and-manslaughter,
perth-6000
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