A mother has been sentenced for one of the worst child abuse cases ever seen in Australia.

A Sydney mother who claimed her son’s May 2013 death was the result of ‘falling off a pogo stick’ has been sentenced to at least 10 and a half years’ jail, Fairfax Media reports.

The 27-year-old woman and her partner originally claimed the boy’s fatal injuries were caused by a fall from a pogo stick in Sydney.

She eventually pleaded guilty to her seven-year-old son’s manslaughter, assault and the production of child abuse material earlier this year. The trial uncovered sickening details of one of the worst cases of abuse ever seen in Australia.

The NSW Supreme Court heard that the boy’s injuries made him look “like he’d been run over by a truck”. Some of those injuries — which included a fractured skull, several fractured ribs and bruising consistent with repeated physical abuse — were sustained after being allegedly punished for six hours including being forced to squat against a wall and stand on a coffee tin for hours.

The boy eventually fell from an elevated position after being punished, the mother’s boyfriend admitted in a 2013 interview with police.

Fairfax Media reports the mother put her children in nappies at night, despite all three being toilet trained, and made them use a bucket as a toilet. Their bedding was covered in faeces and urine.

The court also saw a series of videos taken from a mobile phone that showed the mother berating the boy — who had a moderate intellectual disability — for wetting his pants.

“You don’t talk to me like I am a piece of shit,” she said. “Did you end up wetting your pants? Are you seven or one? How about talking like one? Do you like the smell of wee?”

In another the mother’s 31-year-old partner – who is charged with murder but has pleaded not guilty – is seen telling the boy’s siblings to beat him as part of a punishment regime based on the action movie 300.

“Soldiers, what’s your profession? Don’t stop, just hit him, keep training,” he commands them.

The home was also regularly filled with people smoking cannabis, and the court heard that the man encouraged the boy and his younger siblings to say their maternal grandfather sexually abused them, according to Fairfax Media.

The court heard the boy’s once caring, loving mother became captivated by the man, a Christian hip-hop music producer. The court heard the opinions of forensic psychiatrists, who said the relationship had parallels to Stockholm Syndrome or a cult.

A week after they met the woman — whom the court heard had a dependent personality disorder — moved her three children into the man’s music studio in Oatley, Sydney, where she quickly became influenced by his “extreme religious views” and “parenting philosophy”, the judge said.

It was then that the young boy was first subjected to prolonged and varied physical and emotional abuse.

Fairfax Media reports that the boy’s mother’s care of the three siblings” significantly diminished” once she moved into the studio, which did not have a toilet.

The children stopped going to school, and the boyfriend encouraged the women and her other children to beat and starve the boy.

At once stage, police were called while the family were briefly living in a caravan in Bulli; witnesses reported that the boy was being chased with a stick on the beach, not given food and water and forced to run along the beach until the point of collapse. It was also said he was hit repeatedly with a spatula.

News Limited reports that the boy had been asking strangers for water.

The boy’s death.

On the morning of the boy’s death, the boy’s younger brother allegedly told a relative the mother’s boyfriend had forced him to eat his own faeces and smacked his face when he vomited, Fairfax reports.

That night, the seven-year-old boy was allegedly punished for six hours including being forced to squat against a wall and stand on a coffee tin for hours, before the mother heard a thud, according to to the statement of facts presented by the mother in court.

Her boyfriend then allegedly carried her son into the kitchen saying, “he fell and hit his head”.

The little boy’s eyes rolled back and for the rest of the morning and afternoon as he remained unconscious, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The boyfriend asked if they should call an ambulance but the pair were concerned the boy’s other injuries would be obvious — so instead they tested whether the boy was “faking it,” by holding a lit flame near his fingers to see if he moved his hand when it was burned.

While her son lay dead in his bed, the mother allegedly looked up YouTube clips of “Gloria Copeland divine healing”, which was a part of the Christian Pentecostal beliefs of her music producer boyfriend.

The couple ate pizza for dinner and had sex while the boy lay in their home unconscious, the woman later told police.

It wasn’t until the next morning that the mother finally called an ambulance. She then performed CPR while her boyfriend allegedly removed “evidence” from the studio including soiled bedding and drug implements.

In an interview with police on November 20, 2013, the man eventually admitted the boy did not fall from a pogo stick but fell from an elevated position after being punished.

The unnamed man’s trial was set down for October and is expected to run for six to eight weeks.

Siblings struggle to cope.

At the mother’s sentencing hearing, the seven-year-old boy’s grandparents told the court the child’s siblings were struggling to cope.

“We have picked up the pieces to get [the siblings] to be able to put this behind them and one day lead productive lives, learn to trust again and develop healthy relationships,” the little boy’s grandmother said, according to Fairfax.

“We want them to start sleeping without the nightmares, stop curling up when voices are raised, stop hitting others and not be afraid if they’ve done something wrong,” she said of the traumatised children.

Speaking to the memory of her beloved little grandson, she said: “You left us peaceful memories. Although we cannot see you, you are always at our side.”.

Addressing the boy’s mother, the devastated woman added: “We can’t wait for your sentence and hope you get what you deserve.”

Today the mother was sentenced to a maximum term of 14 years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 10 and a half years.

She showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down.

However, Fairfax Media reports the judge accepted she is genuinely remorseful and gave a discount of 40 per cent for pleading guilty, as well as for agreeing to give evidence against her former boyfriend. He added that she had no prior convictions and good prospects of rehabilitation.

The woman will be eligible for parole in May 2024.

For help, call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800