SA Police form task force to investigate death of six-year-old girl in Adelaide’s northern suburbs

Police are investigating the death of a six-year-old girl from suspected malnutrition, with the mother facing serious criminal charges.

A six-year-old girl has died from suspected malnutrition at a northern Adelaide house in a case reminiscent of the infamous “House of Horrors”.

She has been named as Charlie.

A special police task force has been formed to investigate the girl’s death, with the removal of five other children by authorities.

And a top-level review overseen by the chief executive of the Department of Cabinet and Premier will investigate actions taken by all government agencies involved with the family and child.

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The review, to begin immediately, is charged with finding out which services were engaged and when, how the agencies worked together, how effective they were, and what changes might be required.

The girl died after being taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital early last Friday after paramedics found her unresponsive inside a Munno Para house.

Police announced on Monday afternoon that Task Force Prime had been created after declaring the girl’s death a major crime.

The incident will be investigated as a case of ­alleged criminal neglect. A coronial investigation will be held into the girl’s death.

The six-year-old was taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital early Friday morning after being found unresponsive by paramedics. Picture: AAP Image/Russell Millard

It is understood the child was living with her mother, with her father currently imprisoned on domestic violence related offences.

It is understood the inquiry will examine the diet of the child and whether it consisted of excessive amounts of “junk food”.

It is the worst case of alleged criminal neglect involving children in SA since the infamous ‘House of Horrors’ in 2008.

Adelaide’s infamous House of Horrors case

Tania Staker leaves the Elizabeth Magistrates Court where she faced charges of criminal neglect over the infamous “House of Horrors” case.

Five adults were imprisoned over their involvement in the starvation and abuse of multiple children inside a public housing property at Parafield Gardens.

Authorities became aware of the situation when one child was taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital with a head injury and severe hypothermia.

A lengthy police investigation found the child was among numerous children kept in appalling conditions inside a three-bedroom house.

When they were permitted to eat, they had two-minute noodles, a handful of hot chips or dog food.

Police photographs of the backyard of the property at Parafield Gardens.

Over four months, the children suffered starvation, malnutrition, emaciation, muscle wastage and scabies.

They were ordered to stand facing a wall from the time they woke to the time they slept.

At times, their hands and feet were bound with sticky tape to stop them stealing food at night.

The girlfriend of the father of some of the children, Tania Staker, played a key role in the abuse, spending welfare money on pokie machines at a nearby community social club.

Police photograph of a room inside the house at Parafield Gardens.

A police officer in protective clothing leaves the Parafield Gardens house.

Sentencing Staker to 10 years in prison in 2011 with six years non-parole, then-Justice Kevin Duggan said she had initiated a regime that was “beyond comprehension”.

Three men – Staker’s boyfriend Luke Armistead, her brother Michael Quinlivan and Armistead’s former stepfather, Robert Armistead – were each jailed for nine years, with six year non-parole periods.

Another woman, who was the mother of some of the children, also was jailed. Her identity remains suppressed.