Updated June 25, 2015 11:41:53

A Sydney mother who initially claimed her son's fatal injuries were caused by a fall from a pogo stick has been sentenced to at 14 years in jail for his manslaughter.

After the seven-year-old was found dead at his Oatley home in May, 2013, the woman told police he had hurt himself while playing on a pogo stick.

A subsequent autopsy revealed the boy had been abused.

He had multiple injuries including skull fractures and a subdural haemorrhage, which were deemed inconsistent with a fall from a pogo stick.

The 27-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, reckless wounding, assault and child abuse material offences in March this year.

In sentencing, Justice Ian Harrison said the moderately disabled boy suffered constant abuse and physical assaults in the months leading up to his death.

The court heard on one occasion, during a family holiday, the child was struck several times with a timber slat.

He was also deprived of food as a form of punishment.

Justice Harrison said the woman "embarked on a course to deceive police about her conduct on her failure to care for the deceased in the circumstances".

"A heavy responsibility is on a parent to care for a child who is otherwise defenceless," he said.

Justice Harrison said that after the boy was injured, he was unconscious and non-responsive but his mother did not seek medical attention for him.

She left him virtually unattended for 24 hours while she "went about as if nothing happened".

The failure to get treatment for the child was "profound, cruel and selfish" and "breached the most fundamental trust between human beings".

The woman was sentenced to a total of 14 years in prison and will be eligible for parole in May 2024.

Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, courts-and-trials, oatley-2223

First posted June 25, 2015 11:09:52