Skye Cooper claims she only wanted to protect her little boy, who lives with autism, after she noticed multiple bruises appear after school one day.
“I didn’t want to jump to conclusions because obviously I wanted to give the school the benefit of the doubt,” Cooper said.
In an attempt to uncover the cause of the injury, the 36-year-old hid a listening device in her son’s clothes.
“I was hoping that I wouldn’t find anything on it,” Cooper said.
9News is not reporting what she heard, but the ordeal prompted her to withdraw her son from his primary school and report the matter to regulators.
Cooper is expected to be charged after being questioned by police last week.
In Victoria, it is a criminal offence to use a listening device to record a private conversation that you are not a part of without the consent of every participant.
Cooper said she would continue to stand up for her son.
“I think any mother would self-sacrifice to protect their child, and I’ve done that in this case, and unfortunately it hasn’t worked out for me, but I wouldn’t change it,” she said.
The Victorian mother is now calling on the Department of Education to take responsibility and is asking for greater protections for neurodiverse children.
“I just think that the education department should take responsibility for what’s happening,” Cooper said.
“They should really concentrate on what’s really happening in these school systems.”
In a statement, the Department of Education said “the safety of students at school is our priority, and the priority of our educators”.
“We always urge parents or carers to raise any safety concerns directly with their school so they can be investigated fully,” the department spokesperson said.
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