Australia: Mother's Vacuum Cleaner Beatings Killed Daughter, aged 8

A woman accused of beating her daughter to death with a vacuum cleaner has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Australia.

A murder charge against the 28-year-old, originally from New Zealand, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was dropped after she admitted manslaughter at Cairns Magistrates Court in Queensland.

The woman also pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm while armed.

The woman's eight-year-old daughter was found dead in the Cairns suburb of Westcourt in November 2011.

Police say the child died after she was repeatedly beaten by her mother with a vacuum cleaner pole, as well as other forms of abuse, over a 12-month period.

The 28-year-old is due to be sentenced at a later admitting the offences.

She is also accused of one count of torture which she has not yet entered a plea for. She is due to stand trial Cairns Supreme Court on 26 August for that offence.

She will stand trial along with her 23-year-old partner who is accused of ignoring the abuse and faces one charge of manslaughter.