Woman who secretly gave birth and hid dead baby inside a plastic bag in her freezer avoids jail
Monique Ellen Burton, 35, faced the Perth District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to one count of interfering with a corpse to prevent or prejudice an investigation.
Burton gave birth to the child in secret in the lounge room of her home in Geraldton, in the Mid West region of Western Australia, in August 2022.
She then wrapped the baby in her leggings before hiding the child behind the couch inside a black garbage bag.
Burton has always claimed the baby was a stillborn.
During the trial, it was revealed Burton lied to her partner of 14 years, Shaun Balaam, who was not the biological father of the child, by telling him she had liver cirrhosis which caused her stomach to bloat.
Mr Balaam found Burton on the morning of August 19, 2022, feeling unwell on the sofa.
He rushed her to the hospital after he noticed blood on her legs, but Burton repeatedly denied giving birth or being pregnant despite medical evidence proving otherwise.
When he got home from the hospital, Mr Balaam found the bag behind the couch but did not check what was inside.
He told police he suspected it might have been a baby due to Burton's history of concealing pregnancies but 'freaked out' and put it in the freezer.
Burton eventually admitted to having the baby and told hospital staff that she had hidden the child behind the sofa, which prompted a police search of her home.
Burton was interviewed in January 2024 and told police her memory was 'fuzzy' and that she had 'blocked it out'.
In handing down his sentence, Judge Darren Renton said it was not possible to determine what caused the baby boy's death as he was placed in the freezer.
However, Judge Renton added the child, known as Baby Burton, was likely a stillborn.
'You said there was no noise from the baby and he looked like a doll,' Judge Renton said.
Judge Renton explained he grappled with giving Burton an appropriate sentence as he accepted she was remorseful but the offending was very serious.
'Your motive was in part a desire to avoid the consequences of your pregnancy and because of your psychological conditions,' Judge Renton said.
'You had a sticking your head in the sand approach to deal with stressors and would go into a state of avoidance and denial.
"What you did involved a degree of indignity towards Baby Burton and would quite rightly be viewed as repugnant by members of the community.'
He labelled the situation as 'tragic... on many levels' as her lies made the case exceptionally frustrating and created layers of complexity.
While Burton's offending was towards the 'lower end' of the scale of criminal culpability, Judge Renton said it was by a bare margin her sentence was suspended.
Her stress, mental health issues, and lack of family support was taken into consideration during the ruling.
Burton was sentenced to a 19-month prison term that was suspended for 12 months.
Her sentencing included a treatment program to address personal development, psychiatric needs and parenting.
Burton was also charged with 12 counts of fraud related to money she received in donations from a GoFundMe page.
The GoFundMe was set up by a friend to help Burton cover medical expenses related to her fake liver issues.
Judge Renton noted Burton did not create the fund and her actions were mostly passive despite accepting more than $3,000 in donations.
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