Charlie Nowland’s mother Crystal Hanley says she is ‘fighting all the way’ after being charged over her daughter’s death
A year after her six-year-old daughter died, Crystal Hanley says she is still in the dark what caused her daughter’s death.
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A year after six-year-old Charlie Nowland died, her mother says he has been left without answers about what caused her daughter’s death.
Charlie died at the Lyell McEwin Hospital in the early hours of July 15 last year after becoming unresponsive at her Munno Para home.
Exactly 12 months later, her mother Crystal Hanley says she has not been provided with a death certificate or Coroner’s medical report outlining Charlie’s cause of death.
“I didn’t event think it was a year,” Ms Hanley told The Advertiser ahead of the anniversary.
“I’ve been blocking out days.
“I’ve blocked out a hell of a lot.”
Charlie’s official cause of death was recorded as malnutrition, however Ms Hanley maintains she was told by the Coroner in the days after her daughter’s death that a hereditary heart condition killed the six-year-old.
The Coroner’s Court denied Ms Hanley’s application for access to the Coroner’s report, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.
“It has been directed by the investigating officer that all requests for medical information cannot be forwarded until the matter is finalised,” an administrative services officer wrote in response to the application.
“They’re not giving answers,” Ms Hanley said.
“They’re not giving anything.
“I’ve asked plenty of questions and nobody will give me answers.”
In April, Ms Hanley was charged with manslaughter over her daughter’s death, as well as four counts of criminal neglect into the alleged treatment of her other children.
But she has vowed to fight the charges.
“I’ll keep powering on,” she said.
“I have to.
“I’m fighting all the way.
“I’m not taking a plea.
“I’m fighting them all the way and that’s what Charlie would want.”
Ms Hanley said the anniversary would be the hardest day of the past 12 months.
“I’m just going to keep wondering what happened,” she said.
“I didn’t believe it was a year.”
She said she still thinks of the night her daughter died.
“I miss her cheekiness and her smiling,” Ms Hanley said.
She said she would send balloons into the sky to mark the anniversary.
“I just want my daughter back.”
“I miss her so much.”
Ms Hanley said she had planned to scatter some of her daughter’s ashes last month on what would have been Charlie’s seventh birthday but bail conditions prevented her from leaving her home.
Just days after Charlie’s death last July, Ms Hanley told The Advertiser she properly fed and clothed her children.
“I’m not a perfect mum, but I’m not the mum they’ve made me out to be,” she said in her first interview after Charlie’s death.
“I’m not a perfect mum and I might do things arse to front, back to front, but I fed them all the time.
Ms Hanley was arrested on April 26 as part of a major police investigation which saw three separate people arrested over the unrelated deaths of three children – Charlie, 6, and Makai Wanganeen, 7, who both died last year, and Jasmine Wilmott, 14, who died in 2018.
Makai’s father Shane Wanganeen and Jasmine’s mother Jenni Wilmott were both charged with manslaughter over their children’s unrelated deaths.
No pleas have yet been entered over the charges.
In the days after her arrest, Ms Hanley told The Advertiser she would fight all charges.
“I didn’t kill my daughter,” she said.
“If I killed her (Charlie), why didn’t they arrest me ages ago?
“I was going to give up.
“That makes me look guilty and I’m not guilty.
“I’ll go back into court and keep fighting it.
“I’m going to take it all the way to trial.”
Ms Hanley will face court again in August.
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