Following news that Tiahleigh Palmer’s foster father, Rick Thorburn was officially sentenced for the 12-year-old school girl’s murder, aside from the obvious questions such as how this could have happened, a different kind of question has been asked: why was Tiahleigh in foster care in the first place?
Tiahleigh’s biological mother has spoken to 60 Minutes in her first interview since the guilty verdict was announced, telling reporter Tara Brown that she did not murder her daughter by placing her in foster care.
The body of Tiahleigh Palmer was found on the banks of the Pimpama River on Queensland’s Gold Coast in November 2015, six days after she was reported missing by the Thorburns.
As previously reported by Now To Love, Rick Thorburn, Tiahleigh’s foster father at the time of her death, murdered the 12-year-old after finding out his son had been having sex with her in their Chambers Flat home. Police believe that Rick then killed Tiahleigh because he feared his son would go to prison. It was one of the most shocking murder cases the nation had seen.
Cyndi Palmer’s emotional interview with 60 Minutes revealed that people have been blaming her for her daughter’s death.
Why was Tiahleigh Palmer in foster care?
“I was suffering through a very severe domestic violence situation,” Cindy told 60 Minutes.
“I actually went to the department for help because I realised that one day I was just going to die, and they were going to be left there, by themselves,” she continued.
“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.”
“I did everything I could to try and get her back. I wanted our family to be whole again,” Cindy told Tara Brown.
Cindy Palmer remained in close contact with Tiahleigh despite her daughter being removed from her care, believing she was doing the best thing for her daughter.
During the playing out of this widely reported case, each of the four Thorburn family members was charged in connection to the crime. Rick’s wife, Julene, was sentence to 18 months in jail for perjury and attempting to perver the course of justice after lying to police about Tiahleigh’s death.
Trent Thorburn was sentenced to four years in jail on incest and perjury charges, but was released in January after spending 16 months in prison.
Trent’s brother, Joshua, pleaded guilty to perjury and served three months of his 15-month sentence.
