Kristi Abrahams called 'putrid dog'

Detective Inspector Russell Oxford laments the death of six-year-old Kiesha Weippeart after her mother, Kristi Abrahams, was sentenced to 21 years jail for her murder

Kristi Anne Abrahams is taken from a Prison van to the Supreme court in Sydney for her sentencing after pleading guilty murdering her daughter Kiesha Weippeart. Source: The Daily Telegraph

KRISTI Anne Abrahams lived a troubled life "beyond most people's understanding", the judge who sentenced her today for murdering her 'defenceless' six-year-old daughter said.

But the police officers who investigated her daughter Kiesha's death, and the community left behind to mourn her death, are left reeling from a murder few can comprehend.

Abrahams was described by Justice Ian Harrison as "an inevitable product of entrenched intergenerational failures."

In sentencing her to a total minimum sentence of 16 years for murder and interfering with a corpse, he said: "the offender's failings are mirrored in the failings of others."

LISTEN TO KRISTI ABRAHAMS' ORIGINAL 000 CALL (COURTESY CHANNEL 10)

Kiesha supporter Alison Anderson speaks after Kristi Anne Abrahams was sentenced to 16 years none parole in the Supreme court Sydney for murdering her daughter Kiesha Weippeart. Picture: John Grainger Source: The Daily Telegraph

"As anyone knows, the burdensome responsibilities of parenthood are not bestowed only on those who are capable of meeting them," Justice Harrison said.

"Abrahams was patently ill equipped for the role and probably equally unable to recognise it.

"The death of (Kiesha) was in these circumstances a foreseeable and preventable consequence of foreseeable and preventable causes."

Kiesha Weippeart, 6, who was murdered by her mother Kristie Abrahams in 2010. Source: Supplied

But the sentence, comparatively light compared to other punishments handed down to mothers who murder, was met with anger by a packed Supreme Court gallery.

Those who trusted Abrahams hissed "rot in hell" and labelled her "a putrid dog" as the emotionless 30-year-old was led away.

"The offender has been publicly vilified," Justice Harrison said, adding that of the gamut of emotions felt by a community when a child is dead, "guilt" is paramount.

Kiesha's grandmother Liz Weippeart outside court afterKiesha's mother Kristi Anne Abrahams was sentenced to 16 years none parole in the Supreme court for her daughter's murder. Picture: John Grainger Source: The Daily Telegraph

The only time in Abrahams' journey through the courts, which began with her arrest in April 2011, showed any feeling to the evidence was when submissions turned to her own childhood.

The court heard Abrahams, who found her mother dead at age 10, endured an early life of abuse and neglect which was compounded by an intellectual disability.

But the same man she blamed for an early life of pain, her father, was the same person she wanted to place Kiesha with when she admitted she "couldn't handle this kid anymore."

Russell Oxford, the senior police officer who led the investigation into Kiesha's death, said the outcome should lead all parents to "reflect" then "go home and hug their kids."

A picture of Kiesha Weippeart that was held by one of her supporters Alison Anderson at the Supreme Court today where Kristi Anne Abrahams was sentenced to 16 years none parole for murdering her daughter. Picture: John Grainger Source: The Daily Telegraph

Justice Harrison of the sentence, just before telling Abrahams to stand and learn her fate, "retribution and mercy are important in equal measure."

As Abrahams turned her head to be led away by prison officers, many in the gallery thought mercy is what Kiesha was granted least of all.

The sentencing today comes close to three years to the day since Kiesha's tragic life of abuse ended in her Mt Druitt home.

Abrahams was hit with a sentence of 21 years and six months. She was also sentenced to 18 months for interfering with a corpse. With the two penalties combined, Justice Ian Harrison sentenced her to a minimum 16-year term.

With time already served, she will be eligible for parole in 2027.

Supporters of Kiesha hug outside court after the six-year-old's mother Kristi Anne Abrahams was sentenced to 16 years none parole in the Supreme court for murdering her daughter. Picture: John Grainger Source: The Daily Telegraph

Justice Harrison said while he couldn't be satisfied Abrahams intended to kill six-year-old Kiesha, or that she was responsible for sustained abuse of her daughter, she meant to seriously injure her.

"(How Kiesha died) is not known to me and I have been unable to provide a satisfactory version to replace it," he said.

He said the murder of "a vulnerable and defenceless child in her care" was in the "mid-range" of seriousness and believed she is unlikely to reoffend.

Alison Anderson and other former friends of Abrahams told her to "rot in hell" after the sentence.

The court heard Abrahams, as Kiesha's mother, had "the highest duty of care to her" and "significantly breached" that by delivering "no more than two blows" to a six-year-old child.

Abrahams was entitled to a 10 per cent reduction for pleading guilty on the morning her "lengthy" trial was to start.

Supporters of Kiesha Weippeart hug and weep outside court after the six-year-old's mother Kristi Anne Abrahams was sentenced to 16 years none parole in the Supreme Court for murdering her daughter. Picture: John Grainger Source: The Daily Telegraph

The court was told the version given by 30-year-old Abrahams upon her guilty plea, that she gave Kiesha "a little nudge" after a struggle to put pyjamas on, was "not accepted by the Crown and not consistent with the medical evidence."

Kiesha's post mortem revealed serious physical abuse, with the court told the damage "escalated in...seriousness, particularly in the last 18 months of her life."

The damage to Kiesha's remains, which were set alight at her burial, means the exact cause of death will never be known.

Robert Smith, Abrahams' partner and the man who buried Kiesha at the Shalvey bush site, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in December 2011 and was sentenced to at least 12 years in jail.

Justice Harrison said there was a 25 year standard non parole period for the murder of a child, but indicated other factors could be taken into account when determining the sentence.

He said she had been "publicly vilified" during the time the case has been before the court.

The Supreme Court was packed with former friends, police and family, including a group who yelled out at Abrahams to "go to hell" as the prison truck was driven into the King St complex just before 9am.

Abrahams pleaded guilty to manslaughter in May this year but it was rejected by prosecutors, forcing her to proceed to trial.

On June 17, the morning a jury was due to be picked and the trial to start, Abrahams pleaded guilty to murder.

THE CASE

Kiesha became a familiar face in newspapers and on television after she was reported missing by Abrahams and her partner Robert Smith in August 2010.

Abrahams told police and reporters she had put the little girl to bed in their Hebersham home about 9.30pm but she was gone by the following morning.

But even from early days, homicide detectives believed there was a different, more disturbing truth behind the disappearance.

It took several months, but one night shortly before her arrest in April 2011 Abrahams tearfully told an undercover officer the chilling story of Kiesha's final hours-- and the steps she and Smith had taken to conceal the crime.

Rather than being sent to sleep after a family evening watching movies, as Abrahams initially told police, Kiesha was hurt by her mother on her bedroom floor after she resisted putting on her pyjamas.

Kristi Anne Abrahams is escorted into the Supreme court in Sydney for her sentencing after pleading guilty to murdering her daughter Kiesha Weippeart. Picture: John Grainger John Source: The Daily Telegraph

Abrahams admitted her daughter felt "like jelly" and appeared unresponsive when placed in the shower. By the next morning, she was dead.

A dental expert told the court last month Kiesha had damage akin to an "adult sporting injury"-- a contradiction to Abraham's claim she had "nudged" her daughter with her foot.

Kiesha's small body would stay in a suitcase for days before Abrahams and Smith would take an evening taxi ride to Shalvey, walk into bushland and discard her remains.

Abrahams told the undercover officer she "was scared" of "walking, walking, walking" and seeing Kiesha's body set alight.

The pair were arrested eight months after reporting Kiesha missing, while visiting the gravesite to mark what would have been her seventh birthday.

Smith pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was earlier this year sentenced to at least 12 years in jail.

CYCLE OF ABUSE

The court heard Abrahams failings as a mother could be traced back to her own childhood suffering.

"Kristi Abrahams is very much a product of what happened to her," her barrister Janet Manuell SC told the court last month, "It's very confronting for a community to accept the death of a child at the hands of her mother.

"(But Kristi) didn't receive the care she needed and that was a failure of the system."

The court heard Abrahams was the child of a violent and alcoholic man who has spent large periods of his life in custody.

Kiesha's father Chris Weippeart, who died of natural causes in November last year, on his first visit to the site where the six-year-old little girl's remains were discovered in bush grave near Shalvey in Sydney's west in April 2011, just over 12 months after she was reported missing. Picture: Brad Hunter Source: The Daily Telegraph

At age 10, she discovered her mother dead in their home and began years in and out of foster care.

"She was never given love and support which was important to her own development,' Ms Manuell said.

While prosecutor Christopher Maxwell QC said Abrahams's childhood "amplifies" the tragedy of the case, he added the "anger" she clearly felt towards Kiesha needs to be considered on sentencing.

Documents before the Supreme Court say Abrahams made threats to hurt Kiesha before the murder, expressing frustration at her toilet training and "playing up at school."

"I really will hurt her, I will kill her," Abrahams is reported as saying.

"I can't f****** handle this kid anymore."

Kiesha had been removed from her mother's care previously, after requiring hospital treatment for a bite wound in 2005.

Abrahams pleaded guilty to the assault in court, and was forced to complete an anger management course before Kiesha was returned to her in December 2006.

KIESHA'S LIFE OF PAIN

Many people saw the signs Kiesha was in trouble-- but their concerns weren't enough to save her from a violent mother.

The little girl went to kindergarten only four times, and attempts by education workers to amend this were met with Abrahams locking and refusing to answer the door when they visited the home.

A DOCS caseworker, who spoke to Kiesha away from her mother in 2007, pointed to a burn mark to which the then three year old said "mum did that" and "mum hit there."

Court documents said Abrahams was "annoyed" by Kiesha's resemblance to her biological father, her ex partner Christopher Weippeart, and that it triggered the abuse.

Other neighbours and family friends reported seeing Kiesha "flinch" even if Abrahams just raised her hand to speak casually, and that she appeared fearful of her mother.

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