Inquest into death of 11-week-old baby boy shown photos, video of disgusting living conditions
This should be a photo of a smiling baby - a boy the Child Protection Dept knew was in trouble but utterly failed. Now they’ve threatened legal action over his blurred face.
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An urgent notification about an infant living in squalid conditions with an “immature” teen mother was closed because a rural Child Protection Department outpost did not have the “capacity” to intervene.
An inquest into the death of the 11-week-old baby, whose identity is suppressed, heard on Tuesday that Major Crime detectives had been called in to investigate unexplained injuries on the child police thought was the result of him being crushed while co-sleeping with his mother, siblings and an unrelated teenager.
The baby boy died on 30 November, 2018.
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Opening the inquest, counsel assisting the coroner Sally Giles said the primary focus of the evidence would be the family’s interactions with the department before and after the child’s death.
Ms Giles said 23 reports had been made about the conditions in which the child’s siblings were living, with many of those predating the birth of the baby.
A video of the house filmed by police and played to the court showed extreme levels of squalor including animal faeces, rubbish including dirty nappies strewn across the house and flies and cats throughout.
A detective can be heard coughing at the smell and remarking “there is quite a bad smell of animal faeces through the house”.
Ten days before the baby died, a rural not-for-profit agency that had been handling the family’s case made a desperate referral to the department for assistance.
The inquest heard that Rachel Mayfield, the family’s case manager for the not-for-profit, had been frequently refused access to the family’s home to conduct welfare checks on the children.
“The mother would tell Ms Mayfield that she was too ashamed of her home and would not let her into the house,” Ms Giles said.
Despite the seriousness of the child living in what was later described by a detective as “disgusting squalor”, the referral to the department was given a 10-day window in which to be investigated.
“The supervisor at (the department’s rural office) decided that the office had no capacity to deal with the notification and on the 23 November she moved to close the notification,” Ms Giles said.
“DCP did not take any action in relation to the referral within that 10-day period.”
Ms Giles said the inquest would focus on the state of the house in which the family was living, which was described by a police officer as the worst he had seen in 20 years.
Rotten food, animal faeces, dirty nappies, beds covered in vomit and cat faeces were found in the home.
“It is abundantly clear (the baby) died living in squalor in a home which placed him at risk of physical and psychological harm and the department had been alerted on numerous occasions of the living situation of these children,” Mr Giles said.
The inquest heard Major Crime detectives were notified of the death on November 31 when the mother was unable to explain an injury on the baby.
Detective Brevet Sergeant Kim Mayger told the inquest the baby had a visible injury on his chin stretching across his throat and down to his shoulder.
Mr Mayger interviewed the child’s mother who said the injury had been caused by one of the baby’s siblings offering him a toy and accidentally hitting him on the chin.
“I wasn’t satisfied with her explanation. She described the injury as being in a different location,” he said. “When I pointed out the injury across the throat and shoulder, she had no explanation.”
The court heard detectives concluded the injury across the face, throat and shoulder was likely the result of the child being “squashed” against the frame of the bed while co-sleeping with the two adults.
A post mortem found the baby had a lower respiratory tract infection at the time of his death.
The mother was charged and sentenced for three counts of failing to provide for her children, but the inquest heard a magistrate incorrectly accepted the child had died of sudden infant death syndrome.
Forensic pathologist Stephen Wills, who conducted the autopsy on the infant, told the court he was unable to determine which of the risk factors identified – the unsafe sleeping environment or pneumonia – led to the child’s death and it was likely a combination of both.
However he said the death could not be classified as a SIDS death because known risk factors had been identified.
“In general terms this is not a safe sleeping environment,” he said.
He said the mark across the neck and chin of the child was caused around the time the child died, but he was unable to tell whether it had occurred before or after.
Ms Giles said an expert paediatrician concluded the sleeping position was more likely to have contributed to the death than the chest infection.
Ms Giles said in her opening statement the inquest was not an exercise in prosecuting the mother, but would look at the family’s interaction with the department and other services before and after the child died.
The inquest continues.
Department angry at tragedy revelations
A baby’s photo album should be full of smiling, happy moments of its young life.
This is what The Advertiser wanted to create in memory of an 11-week-old child, who had been the subject of multiple reports to the Child Protection Department, before his death in 2018.
But we have chosen not to after lawyers for the department indicated they were seeking legal advice against the media, including The Advertiser for using blurred photos of the baby at the centre of a damning inquest.
A day after being granted a suppression over details including the name of the baby, images of him and where he died, the DCP indicated it was not happy with the coverage of Monday’s hearing.
Before the inquest opened on Tuesday, counsel for the department told State Coroner David Whittle that they were seeking advice about whether pixelated photos run by The Advertiser breached the suppression order.
In compliance with the order, The Advertiser published pixelated photos that did not identify the child to illustrate the tragedy and the imperative for answers about the circumstances of his death.
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