Port Pirie couple charged with criminal neglect allowed to speak, yet to explain why baby was ‘near death’, court hears
Parents charged over the shocking neglect of a baby taken to hospital “near death” can now speak to each other — but neither have explained what happened to the boy, a court has heard.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The parents of a baby who was allegedly taken to hospital “near death” suffering dehydration have been granted permission to be able to speak with each other — but are yet to explain exactly what happened to the child, a court has heard.
Previously the Port Pirie couple, whom The Advertiser has chosen not to name, were banned from any contact with each other.
The appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday seeking the court lift the order.
Prosecutors opposed the application, saying the pair were yet to properly explain what happened to the child who was taken to hospital 12 months ago in “a very, very poor state”.
“Neither of the accuseds’ version of events accounts for the condition of the child both in terms of the dehydration he was suffering at the time and other injuries that were subsequently discovered,” she said.
“In those circumstances, where only two persons have knowledge of exactly what happened to that child and neither of those persons have given an account which satisfactorily accounts for those injuries and that condition of the child it would be inappropriate for them to have contact with each other.
“It may prejudice the prosecution of this matter.”
She said removing the non-contact order would “provide an opportunity” for the pair to discuss their defence to the charge.
Magistrate Simon Smart removed the non-contact condition, asking the prosecutor: “why shouldn’t they discuss their case?”.
“I don’t see the fact that they might converse with one another in preparation for a trial … as the basis for a non-contact condition.”
The man, 32, and woman, 31, are each yet to plead to a charge of criminal neglect.
The court has previously heard the boy was taken to Port Pirie Hospital on September 13, 2018, severely dehydrated and “near death” and suffering from several other injuries including multiple broken bones, a skull fracture and severe nappy rash akin to burns.
It has heard the skull fracture was caused by a “forceful direct impact to the area or the child being dropped” and a photo of the boy taken 10 days before his hospital admission showed him with a “swollen head”,
A fracture to his leg was suspected of being several weeks old and consistent with “a pulling or twisting motion or a direct blow”.
The court also previously heard the boy, who suffers from a rare genetic intellectual disability known as Koolen de Vries syndrome, was “failing to thrive” due to poor feeding and calorie intake for a “prolonged period”.
Outside court, the child’s mother said “all that matters to me” was seeing her children.
When asked what she would talk to the child’s father about, she said: “I don’t have any plans”.
“There’s been no contact for over six months,” she said.
She agreed she wanted to get to the bottom of what happened, but would not say whether she knew what happened to the child.
She would not say whether she was still together with her husband.
The mother’s sister said the father “had changed” since the alleged crime.
“He wants to get his life back on track because he wants to do right by his wife and children and support her,” she said.
“She shouldn’t have to lose her husband.”
The couple will return to court next month.