Depressed mum incarcerated for 25 years
A Melbourne mum who tried to kill her two children before attempting to kill herself has been handed a 25-year term in a psychiatric hospital.
Christine Steinberg, 43, was found to have been suffering a major depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms when she tried to kill her children, aged seven months and three, on April 29 last year.
She was found not guilty of two counts of attempted murder due to mental impairment.
On Tuesday, Victorian Supreme Court Justice Ross Robson committed Steinberg to a nominal 25-year term in Melbourne's Thomas Embling Psychiatric Hospital.
Defence counsel David Brustman SC said his client wanted to apply for a review of the term in six months.
He said it followed two psychiatric reports saying Steinberg will not remain on the custodial supervision order for a long period, with one psychiatrist suggesting her stint could be as short as six months.
The Victorian Supreme Court had earlier heard Steinberg locked herself in a room in her mother's house when she cut the throats and wrists of her children, then cut her own wrists and lay on top of them.
Her mother forced open the door and found them covered in blood when she returned from the shops.
Mr Brustman told the court on Tuesday that Steinberg, who was in court for the hearing, had suffered several assaults in custody at Thomas Embling from one patient who had schizophrenia.
She had been kicked in the head, punched, had her hair pulled out, had death threats and had hot coffee poured on her.
Mr Brustman said Steinberg was scared and the hospital's response to tell her to stay in her room to avoid trouble was insufficient.
In sentencing, Justice Robson said he was surprised the patient had not been separated from Steinberg and while hospital staff had a difficult job, he shared Mr Brustman's concerns.
