Families SA: Coronial inquest starts into death of Baby Ebony at hands of drugged father
FAMILIES SA allowed a newborn baby bashed to death by her father to remain with her parents despite a radiologist refuting claims of an earlier accidental injury, a court has heard.
A RADIOLOGIST refuted accidental injury claims by the parents of a newborn baby but she was allowed to remain in the parent’s care by Families SA just two months before being bashed to death by her father, a court has heard.
Deputy State Coroner Anthony Schapel has started hearing evidence in the inquest into the death of baby Ebony, who died at the hands of her father on or about November 8, 2011, aged 4 months.
Opening the inquest, counsel assisting the coroner Naomi Kereru said Ebony’s parents attended the Families SA office at Woodville on November 15, 2011 and told staff their baby was dead at their western suburbs unit. They said she had been dead for about a week.
Ms Kereru said a forensic examination had found Ebony died from 70 injuries. Her cause of death at autopsy was blunt head trauma with multiple, bilateral skull fractures that resulted in haemorrhages.
The baby’s parents had moved from Goulbourn, NSW, to Adelaide in mid-2011, while her mother was in the early stages of pregnancy, she said.
“It is expected that during this inquest, Your Honour will hear that although Families SA received a high-risk infant notification at the time of Ebony’s birth and some concerning information communicated by DOCS (the NSW equivalent of Families SA) shortly afterwards about both parents, nothing further was done to explore this or investigate the potential risk to baby Ebony,” Ms Kereru said.
“The inquest will investigate the information sharing channels between the states and whether more could have been done with the information to protect Ebony.”
The court heard the mother was listed as a missing person in NSW because she was removed from her parents when she was nine when she appeared at the Womens’ and Children’s Hospital to give birth to Ebony.
Ms Kereru said a one-year-old boy of an earlier partner had also been removed from the care of Ebony’s father while they were living in NSW.
The inquest heard that on August 9, Ebony was returned to her parents after suffering a “suspected non-accidental” broken leg. Ms Kereru said an x-ray had revealed that “suspected non-accidental” broken leg months before her death.
“The radiology report states the finding of new bone formation along the lateral femoral would suggest that the injury is older than the stated injury. Non-accidental injury should be strongly considered.”
She said that despite this, a doctor later accepted the parents’ claims she had fallen between her pram after the father had consumed cannabis and, as a result, Families SA appeared to “close the file” on Ebony’s case despite the earlier “high risk’ notifications.
Ms Kereru said the father’s drug admission on its own “raises the question whether Ebony should have been removed”.
She said that on a further welfare visit on October 16, 2011, about a fortnight before Ebony’s death, care workers had noted the mother with bruises on her jaw and marks on her teeth.
“She appeared hunched over, distressed and had lost weight,” she said.
Ms Kereru said the carer had noted that during the visit the mother admitted the father had been violent towards her and kept looking at him while she was speaking to the social worker although she was scared of him.
The inquest comes after a coronial inquiry was held into the death of four-year-old Chloe Valentine at the hands of her mother and her mother’s partner, at which Coroner Mark Johns savaged Families SA for its practices and culture.
And last week, former Families SA carer and paedophile Shannon McCoole was jailed for at least 28 years for horrific sex abuse of children.
Ebony’s father and mother both pleaded guilty to criminal neglect over her death.
They cannot be identified as the mother was a youth at the time of the offending.
In March 2014, the father was sentenced to nine years’ prison with a seven-year, three-month non-parole period.
The mother walked from court with a two-year good behaviour bond.
The focus of this inquest will be the agencies and services that were involved with Ebony’s parents prior to her death.
Mr Schapel will hear evidence from 19 witnesses including employees of Families SA and Families and Community Services NSW during the inquest, which will run for at least a fortnight.
Julia Wright, a social worker with StreetLink, which is linked with UnitingCare, agreed she found it a “bit odd” when Families SA rang her five days after the birth to check on the mother and baby’s welfare.
However, she later conceded on cross examination that it was not entirely surprising she would be contacted if Families SA were having trouble locating the parents.
Womens’ and Children's’ Hospital social worker Kelly Kouflas said she had contacted NSW authorities after Ebony’s birth and immediately placed a high-risk notification on the parents.
She said she expected Families SA would follow up on the notification adequately following the concerning information she had passed on from NSW authorities about the mother’s history of depression, high risk-taking behaviour and that a child had previously been removed from the father.
Evidence will also be heard from other services involved with Ebony and her parents.