The mother of murdered boy Bradyn Dillon has admitted drugging his abusive father's coffee with Seroquel before taking the boy back to Victoria in an attempt to rescue him from further violence.
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But the woman's desperate attempt to take back care of the boy was unsuccessful, even as Bradyn cried and begged authorities not to be returned to his violent father, an inquest has heard.
Little over a year later in February 2016, Graham Dillon killed the boy at his home in Canberra.
Dillon, 41, is serving more than three decades in jail for the "despicable" murder of nine year old Bradyn.
While there is no question over who killed the boy, an inquest is now examining how the boy had become so isolated and vulnerable.
The inquest will also look at the response of various authorities in the months and years before his death.
Bradyn's mother, whose name is suppressed, told the ACT Coroner's Court on Tuesday that she met Dillon in Tasmania in 2002.
She said her relationship with the man was "controlling, rough and dominating".
She said he would regularly assault her and threaten to kill those she loved, describing how he would "gut them like the dogs they are".
Bradyn had lived with his mother his whole life, but around 2013 she started having problems with a member of her family.
By then Bradyn's mother and Dillon had split up.
Bradyn's mother sought help from Dillon and his new partner, who she trusted, and Bradyn went to live with them for what was meant to be a few months.
But Bradyn's mother told the inquest that after two or three weeks she wanted the boy back.
The new partner was suffering the same violence at Dillon's hands as she had and planned to leave him.
Bradyn's mother contacted Dillon but he refused to return him to her.
She sought help in Victoria and got a domestic violence order against Dillon protecting herself and Bradyn.
At the same time, Dillon sought a protection order in the ACT against the mother, and had Bradyn added without her knowledge.
Bradyn's mother said Dillon told her she could have the boy back if she dropped her order against him.
But while she dropped the order he refused to return the boy.
While visiting in Canberra in November 2014, the mother said she slipped 300 grams of Seroquel in Dillon's coffee.
She then took Bradyn back to Victoria.
The mother broke down recounting the incident, saying she felt ashamed of what she had done.
Police later came to her home after a report from Dillon.
In one meeting with Victorian care and protection workers, she said the boy was screaming "don't send me back to daddy".
He said his father had been strangling, kicking and screaming at him, she said.
She said that the workers heard that the man was drowning the boy and beating him.
The mother said on another occasion later she showed Victorian police a message Dillon had sent her of bullets and a gun, suggesting it was her Christmas present.
But she said the police didn't want anything to do with it because it was federal jurisdiction.
The last time the mother saw Bradyn alive was during a visit in Albury.
She agreed to pay Dillon $2000 for the three day visit where they all stayed in a hotel.
She said Dillon had made Bradyn wear a beanie to hide bruises but others such as on his cheek and a mark "like a kicking bruise" on his leg were still visible.
The mother said she made repeated calls to authorities about Bradyn but that child protection in Canberra became "crabby" at her.
In November 2014, after Bradyn's mother took him back to Victoria, police came to the caravan park where they lived.
Child protection interviewed the mother and the boy, having received reports that the mother was barred from contacting the boy.
Dillon had also claimed she was using the dug ice, and that the children were scared of her.
It later emerged that there was a more recent court order that said she was allowed contact.
The inquest also heard that her drug tests were clear of ice, and the boy told authorities he felt safe with his mother.
The inquest heard the Victorian authorities assessed Bradyn's mother as suitable to care for him and believed Dillon was a risk.
They applied to court to keep the boy in her care.
But Dillon was successful in fighting the application.
He relied in part on a new court order from Canberra that named the boy as a protected person in an order against the mother.
When Bradyn heard he would be returning to Dillon he cried, Victorian protection records show.
The records said that he revealed his father would pick him up and throw him and that Dillon was scared he was going to jail.
The inquest heard Victorian child services reported what happened to territory child protection authorities.
The boy was returned to his father and his mother said Dillon looked at her and made a slice across his throat.
She admitted still being confused by the court processes.
The inquest continues.
