The harrowing reason Tiahleigh’s mother gave her up
Cindy Palmer, the mother of murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh, has told how she gave her daughter up during a “severe domestic violence situation” because she thought it was the safest option for her then seven-year-old daughter.
But instead, horrifically, five years later, Tiahleigh would be killed by her foster father to cover up the fact that her 18-year-old foster brother had molested her.
Rick Thorburn pleaded guilty to murder last Friday and will serve 20 years before being eligible for parole.
The court heard Rick murdered Tiahleigh on October 29, 2015, because he thought Tiahleigh might be pregnant and therefore his son would go to prison.
Speaking to 60 Minutes last night, Cindy Palmer explained why she had given up her daughter to foster care.
“I was suffering through a very severe domestic violence situation,” she said.
“So, I actually went to the department for help because I realised that one day I was just going to die and [she] was just going to be left there by [herself].
“I still firmly believe that the day I went to the department asking for help, I made the right decision. It’s not what I wanted and it wasn’t the outcome any of us wanted, but at the end of the day I thought it was the safer option.”
But life only got worse for Cindy after she gave up her daughter.
“At first, I was so devastated at being apart from her that I spiralled out of control, into drugs and homelessness.”
Cindy told the program she’d had a bad feeling about the Thorburn family and she was particularly worried her daughter would be living with teenage boys.
“Straight away, I said no,” she said.
“The first ever time that I met Rick, the first words that came out of his mouth were about how he was in a gang when he was younger and he was running guns and prostitutes. And he was proud of this.”
Although family members have told police that Rick often told elaborate lies to impress people, Cindy said whether or not the story was true, it was “inappropriate”.
Cindy said she has received abuse and death threats over her decision to put her daughter in foster care.
“I didn’t murder my daughter,” she said.
“I’ve worked really hard not to be that person anymore but I guess maybe it is a little bit of guilt because obviously I was meant to be a mother and I should have made better choices.”