A mother who lied to police to protect her teenage son following a drug rip off has been sentenced for perjury.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 17-year-old Wodonga boy was one of three armed offenders who broke into a home, attacked the occupant, and stole about a kilogram of marijuana.
The incident occurred on June 17, 2017, and when police arrested the teenager three days later, his mum claimed to know nothing about what happened.
She said the boy had been at home all night, and made a sworn statement.
Police recovered the marijuana from the family home, packed into one ounce bags.
The 45-year-old woman admitted a few weeks later to lying to police and said her son had left their house, returned with a garbage bag, and told her what had happened.
County Court judge Michael Cahill recently said the woman knew her son was "in a fair bit of trouble" and had panicked.
IN OTHER NEWS
"I just didn't think before I done it," she had told police, adding that she knew she would be caught out.
She had felt sick after lying to officers.
The 45-year-old, who cannot be named due to her son being a minor at the time of the incident, broke down in tears during her sentencing.
Her sons have been involved in a string of escalating offences involving guns, drugs, thefts and burglaries, and she blames herself.
Her husband is also well known to police, but the woman has a limited criminal record.
Judge Cahill noted how serious her actions were, but said it was at the lower end of such offending.
"Because it undermines the whole basis of the justice system, perjury is fundamentally a serious crime," he said, and ordered the woman to perform 100 hours of community work.