An Illawarra mother has been released on bail pending her appeal for severely assaulting her 11-year-old son. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in Wollongong District Court today from Dillwinya Women's Correctional Centre as her lawyer Renata Matyear made a bid for bail, noting the harrowing conditions her client had experienced while in custody. Read more: Gerroa grandfather caught by same child abuse investigators who nabbed Brett Finch During the first week of her four weeks in custody, the woman had witnessed another inmate die and it was several hours before the body was removed. The woman was spending time behind bars after Magistrate Gabriel Fleming in Wollongong Local Court found her guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and contravening the terms of a court order. Ms Fleming told the court in November that the woman had breached "the ultimate relationship of trust" between a mother and her child after what occurred in November 2020. In the afternoon of November 21, 2020, the woman was at home with her 11-year-old son and other younger children. About 4.30pm the woman and her son had an argument about the son's mobile phone. This led to the woman slapping and kicking the boy, before she grabbed her son by the ankle and dragged him through broken glass, leaving a cut on his hand. In his evidence, the boy told the court that his mother smacked and kicked him after he did not give her the password to his phone. During the assault, the woman told her son that neither her nor the son's father wanted him. The boy told the court this left him very upset and angry. By about 9pm, the boy jumped out of the bathroom window and climbed over the back fence to a neighbour's house. The neighbour saw the boy crying and the cut on his hand which was bleeding. The neighbour told the court that she later saw the mother yelling aggressively at the boy to "get in the f---ing car". Ms Fleming said the testimony of the boy was "truthful and it is overwhelming proof of these offences". Read more: Wollongong man who was found hiding behind furniture in breach of AVO jailed Ms Fleming sentenced the woman to concurrent sentences of eighteen months for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and 12 months for contravening the terms of a court order and common assault. The Magistrate imposed a non-parole period of six months, making the woman eligible for parole on May 2. In applying for bail before Judge Chris Hoy, Ms Matyear said the conditions in custody were traumatising for the first-time inmate, who had sought counselling and a psychologist but had only been provided a 15 minute GP consultation nearly two weeks after the incident occurred. The Crown Prosecutor opposed bail, highlighting the likelihood of a jail sentence were the appeal to be unsuccessful. However, Judge Hoy granted bail, noting that the woman would have served most of her non parole period by the time of her appeal date in March and the conditions she had been subject to while in custody. "While I accept that the prospect of imprisonment is realistic, there remain options whether it be full time or not," Judge Hoy said. The terms of the bail require the woman to be of good behaviour, comply with a court order, report to police, attend a GP and not to contact any witnesses in the case. To read more stories, download the Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.