Autistic boy died after being bound to chair, showered in cold: court

An 11-year-old boy with autism died after he was lashed to a chair in the garden shed of his central west NSW home while soaking wet in extremely cold temperatures over night.

His mother is on trial for his manslaughter at Sydney Central Court, which heard yesterday that his parents "were not coping" with his behaviour.

The mother and the boy's stepfather resorted to using packing tape and trucking straps to restrain the child who they said had become physically difficult.

The boy would throw his body around, soil himself and would not sleep, Crown prosecutor Peter McGrath SC told the court.

Suffering from autism that severely impaired his ability to communicate, the prosecution said his parents would lash his limbs with "a belt or ratchet type tie" in order to settle him. Evidence showed he struggled against the restraints.

On the night of his death, the boy's stepfather carried the child to the shower while strapped to a chair and placed him under cold water, the court heard.

In an interview recorded by police and played in court Wednesday, the mother said the cold shower was a tested method used to "snap him out of it" and settle him.

On the night of his death, the boy's stepfather told the mother to "come quick" to the back shed where she found him untying the child who was limp with his tongue hanging out.

He was pronounced dead early on October 1 after temperatures slumped to five degrees overnight.

The Crown alleges the boy died from exposure in the cold environment.

"On the crown case, it was a very cold night," Crown prosecutor Peter McGrath SC said, adding that the body's thin 24kg body had little ability to heat itself.

"He couldn't warm himself.

"He couldn't move to put any further clothing on.

"He was at the will and mercy of his mother and her husband, who was also in a position of parental responsibility to the boy."

But the defence has argued the boy's mother was not to blame, instead suggesting her husband was charged with caring for the boy.

"(She) told police she assumed he would be providing whatever care he needed," her barrister Ertunc Ozen told the court.

"So the defence case is that the first (she) is aware of this form of punishment being used in these circumstances is after it occurred."

The court also heard how the boy's bother and stepfather made him sleep with his arms restrained in plastic pipes and sitting upright in a chair.

"We have had to restrain him time and time again with tape so he doesn't get up and hurt himself. We are trying to prevent him from hurting himself," the boy's mother told police in 2011.

They also are alleged to have moved him into different rooms throughout the house, claiming he had been housed inside a shed where he was tied to a garden chair.

While the mother told police the shed was "quite warm", the crown argued that it had no insulation installed and the only present heater wasn't connected.

Morning news break - November 12