A woman has received a two-year suspended sentence after signing a mother and her late daughter up for swimming lessons just two days after the toddler drowned.
Alana Jade Osborne, 29, faced Pine Rivers Magistrate Court, north Brisbane, on Friday where she pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful stalking, harassment, intimidation or abuse against Central Queensland mother Tahlia Kay Murphy.
The court heard Ms Murphy’s 17-month-old daughter, Taidyn ‘Totty’ Murphy, drowned in a spa bath at the family’s home in Gracemere, south of Rockhampton, while Ms Murphy was at work during September 2022.
Ms Murphy lost her job the same day. She is not accused of any wrongdoing in her daughter’s death.
The toddler’s tragic death triggered a year-long barrage of ‘mental torture’ for Ms Murphy, who was targeted by Osborne and co-accused Jessie Ella Ayling.
Tahlia Kay Murphy (pictured with Taidyn ‘Totty’ Murphy) suffered over a year of ‘mental torture’ following the death of her toddler
Taidyn ‘Totty’ Murphy (pictured) drowned in a spa bath at the family’s Gracemere, south of Rockhampton, home
The court heard between August 12, 2022 and December 7, 2023 the pair created a number of social media accounts to ‘make a mockery’ of Taidyn’s death, the Courier Mail reported.
On one occasion, just two days after the drowning, Osborne signed Ms Murphy and Taidyn up for a swim school.
Ms Murphy was left very distressed after the school subsequently contacted her to make arrangements for lessons.
Osborne and Ayling would use their series of online profiles to share content and comments about little Taidyn’s drowning, including on Facebook and TikTok.
The content further distressed Ms Murphy as it could be seen by grieving family members, including her older then-12-year-old daughter.
The court heard the harassment wasn’t just limited to social media, though, with the pair emailing Ms Murphy’s boss demanding she be sacked and Osborne at one point sending pizza deliveries to the family’s home.
Magistrate Annette Hennessey recalled Ms Murphy’s emotional victim impact statement in which she detailed her struggle to properly process her young daughter’s death amid the onslaught from the co-accused.
‘She said that the harassment and torment caused by yourself and the co-defendant, during one of the most stressful and heartbreaking times of her life, made her feel mad, angry and stressed and she contemplated taking her own life on multiple occasions,’ Magistrate Hennessey said.
‘She says she felt betrayed and stressed by both the content of the posts and messages that you and the co-defendant sent online.
‘When she was in the thick of her grief and then tormented online, she couldn’t think or focus on organising her daughter’s funeral because of your actions.
‘She had an older daughter at the time, who was 12, and she refers to you contacting the daughter with distressing content as well.’
Alana Jade Osborne and Jessie Ella Ayling harassed Ms Murphy (pictured with Taidyn), including one occasion when Osborne signed the pair up for swimming lessons just two days after the toddler’s death
Police prosecutor, Mr Shiyaad, described Osborne and Ayling’s actions as ‘malicious and depraved’.
‘For the defendant and co-defendant to make a mockery of this death, to harass the grieving victim, it is inexcusable,’ he said.
‘The method employed by the defendants to inflict this act of mental torture was complex and relentless.
‘It is further aggravating that these (two women) not only contacted the aggrieved but also her systems of support, being her family and her friends.
‘These were cold, calculated and premeditated acts.’
Ms Murphy shared a complicated relationship with both Osborne and Ayling.
She described Osborne as her best friend between 2017 and 2021 with Ms Murphy opening her home to her for four-to-five months in 2020 as Osborne recovered from amphetamine addiction.
Osborne’s lawyer, Andrew Ferrett, said the pair knew each other since 2012 but became especially close from 2016 as they had children around the same time.
However, Osborne started to feel resentment towards Ms Murphy for failing to empathise with her addiction struggle.
‘She (Osborne) managed to get herself off amphetamine and during a period of time, moved up to Rockhampton to stay with the victim,’ the court heard.
‘Their relationship became a little fractured during that period of time because my client felt the victim was quite insensitive towards her plight with amphetamine addiction at the time.
‘She felt the victim could be patronising towards her and insensitive about her predicament.’
Osborne and Ayling would post online content and comments about the death of Taidyn (pictured)
After leaving Ms Murphy’s home, Osborne moved to Brisbane.
Ms Murphy suspected her husband was having an affair with Jessie Ayling in the city and asked Osborne to investigate their relationship.
It is understood Mr Murphy was in a relationship with Ayling during a brief split from Ms Murphy in 2022.
‘My client then came into contact with the co-defendant, while she was in a relationship with the victim’s partner and ironically became close to the co-defendant (Ayling),’ Mr Ferrett said.
‘She did start to have a difficulty with the victim and this was enhanced by the acrimonious relationship between Jessie (Ayling) and the victim Tahlia, as a result of Tahlia’s partner Cecil having a relationship with Jessie.’
Several factors of Osborne’s life and upbringing were heard by the court, including the fact she was mostly raised her by controlling mother, whom she had a ‘difficult’ relationship with.
That strained relationship resulted in Osborne facing periodic homelessness during her childhood, alongside other issues.
The court also heard Osborne was looking after four children, including a nine-year-old boy whose parents were in jail.
She currently works as a retail assistant and service station assistant but is undertaking a Certificate III in pathology.
Osborne is being considered for the position of an Indigenous Liaison Officer with Metro North Health and hopes to have a career in medical science.
Ms Murphy said she was unable to properly grieve Taidyn (pictured) due to the unrelenting harassment
Mr and Ms Murphy have both already been sentenced for a revenge attack on Ayling and Osborne, with the aid of a third party, on November 30, 2022 at Taigum.
On February 26, 2024, they were given a 2.5 year wholly suspended sentence for firebombing Osborne’s car.
Ayling was sentenced by Ipswich Magistrates Court on May 17 to 12 months’ probation for using a carriage service to menace, harass, or cause offence and breaching bail conditions.
Osborne was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for two years.
Magistrate Hennessey also imposed a five-year restraining order on Osborne to not contact Ms Murphy.
Her conviction was recorded.