A woman who left her sleeping toddler in a car on a 41C day in Adelaide is a loving mother and her actions were an aberration, a court has heard.
But prosecutors say Trisha Joy Ownsworth's three-year-old boy would likely have died had it not been for the intervention of other people.
Ownsworth, 38, is facing a possible jail sentence after being found guilty of creating a risk of serious harm over leaving the child in her car at a suburban shopping centre in February, 2014 while she went shopping.
The boy spent about half an hour in the car, which was parked in the sun, and was very hot by the time he was coaxed out of an open window to be treated by paramedics.
Defence counsel Adam Gaite told the District Court on Friday that the boy was obviously upset and in some discomfort but was otherwise unhurt.
He described Ownsworth as a loving mother and said her actions were an aberration as he asked the court to consider either not imposing a sentence or, alternatively, imposing a suspended jail term.
But prosecutor Andrew Fowler-Walker said only a custodial sentence was appropriate.
"Without intervention by other people at the shopping centre is it more than likely this child would have died," he said.
At her trial, Ownsworth testified that she had forgotten her son when she left him in the car while prosecutors argued it was a deliberate act.
Mr Gaite said following her trial and conviction his client had been attacked on social media, had lost her job and had suffered stress because of the publicity her case had attracted.
Judge Julie McIntyre will sentence Ownsworth on July 11.
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