A NSW mother accused of injecting her sick daughter with urine and poisoning her with laxatives has been found not guilty on all counts.
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The Crown had alleged the 47-year-old former nurse, from NSW's Hunter region, injected urine into her immune-deficient daughter's central venous line while the girl was in Sydney's Westmead Hospital for acute renal failure in March 2015.
She was also accused of twice using laxatives to poison with intent to injure her daughter in 2014.
But after a two-week trial, NSW District Court Judge Christopher Robison on Wednesday found the former nurse and midwife not guilty of all counts.
The proceedings against the woman, whose identity is suppressed to protect her daughter, had cost her home, her career and five years with her girl, the woman's lawyer said.
"However, today the court has restored her lost reputation," solicitor Mark Ramsland said in a statement.
Mr Ramsland said the woman thanked her husband, family and other supporters "for believing in her innocence and not giving up on her".
The girl, whose immunodeficiency is related to a genetic condition, was repeatedly admitted to Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital and Westmead from age two to nine, the court heard.
A treating doctor has told the court the girl's presentations were more unusual as time went on.
Medical supplies including a urine sample container and syringes were found in the mother's bag in March 2015.
But the mother told police she had gathered the medical supplies when her child was transferred to Westmead from another hospital.
She told police she missed being a nurse and liked being involved in the care of her daughter.
The girl had continued medical issues including "coughs for months" and regular episodes of diarrhoea in the five years since she was placed into foster care, the teen told the trial.
The Crown - running a circumstantial case - argued the girl's condition had improved since 2015.
A treating doctor testified he believed the girl's reported diarrhoea was "factitious" and likely caused by a secretly administered laxative agent.
But paediatric gastroenterologist Scott Nightingale said he hadn't raised his suspicions with the mother or reported his concerns any further than the girl's treating doctors and the hospital's child protection team, as per hospital protocol.
The court heard the family - concerned about the number of infections their daughter was experiencing - offered to be put under surveillance. But the offer was never taken up.
Australian Associated Press