Judge calls the decision of the 30-year-old Queensland mom, who pled guilty, to leave her daughters in the car “inexcusable.”
A Queensland mom who recklessly left her two young girls in a hot car to die has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
Queensland Mom Left Children In Hot Car To Die
Logan resident Kerri-Ann Conley, 30, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter this week in Brisbane supreme court and was sentenced on Thursday. Chloe-Ann Conley, 1, and Darcey Conley, 2, passed away in their mother’s car outside of their Logan City, south of Brisbane, home.
The children were strapped in the Mazda sedan as Conley drove home after visiting her friend’s house with them the day prior and smoking ice, according to testimony given in court.
At 1:30 pm, as the temperature climbed above a sweltering 60C, she went inside the home to get some sleep before going outside to get her kids. The children were routinely left asleep in the car, according to the testimony given in court, and several of her friends had to remove them from the car on various occasions.
As the tragic sequence of events was revealed, family members, including the father of one of the children, sat in the rear of Brisbane Supreme Court.
Conley occasionally wiped her eyes but mainly fixed her gaze forward. The day before, at 11.30 pm, Conley allegedly took her children Darcy-Helen, 2, and Chloe-Ann, 1, to a friend’s home.
Before departing the following morning at 4.10am, she put them to sleep and hung out with friends at the house. Conley left the kids in the car once she got home, locking the doors and keeping it in an open area with no shade.
The court was informed that during the day, the temperature in the car rose as high as 61.5C. According to phone records, Conley used her phone up until about 5 am before turning in, with her kids still in the backseat.
Later in the afternoon, she finally got out of bed and brought the kids inside from the car.
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Darcey Conley Kills Children
Drug user Conley was referred to as “heavy and frequent.” Her blood was determined to have amphetamine and ice traces, and the day before the incident, she admitted to smoking a “point-and-a-half” of methylamphetamine.
Conley was initially charged with murder under new Queensland law, which includes reckless disregard for human life as a form of murder, that was passed just a few weeks prior to the occurrence.
When she was brought before the court on Tuesday, she pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter. She also admitted to further drug possession and drug accessory offenses.
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