Lavinia Alison Murray pleads guilty to manslaughter of baby daughter Trinity Adriana Graham

Little Trinity’s final minutes alive were spent in a laundry sink that was rapidly filling with water after a washcloth blocked the drain, while her mother cleaned the house and went on social media.

Trinity’s mother pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday to her manslaughter.

A seven-month old baby girl left in the laundry sink with the water running silently died when a washcloth fell into the drain and filled the tub, causing her to drown while her mother cleaned the house and messaged friends on social media.

Mother-of-three Lavinia Alison Murray left her daughter Trinity Adriana Graham in the sink after bathing her, keeping the water running with the plug out and intermittently checking on her on the morning of February 5, 2021 at their Murgon home.

The fourth time Murray checked back on her daughter, she found the makeshift washcloth she had left her to play with had become stuck in the plughole, filling up the tub and causing the little girl to drown.

Murray, who was 21 at the time, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday to her daughter’s manslaughter.

The court heard at the time of the tragedy, Murray was caring for her three children aged four, one and seven months.

Seven-month-old baby Trinity died after being left alone in a laundry sink by her mother Lavinia Alison Murray.

Crown Prosecutor Caroline Marco said Trinity’s father had been in custody at the time and Murray was struggling to care for the children on her own.

Ms Marco said Murray had made plans for Trinity to stay with her paternal grandmother and for her and the older two children to travel to Cairns the following day to stay with her mother who would help her care for them.

One the morning she left Trinity in the bath, she was packing for that trip, tidying the house and using her phone, talking to people on Facebook Messenger.

Kathleen Combo, the grandmother of seven-month-old Trinity Graham, leaves the Supreme Court in Brisbane.

Trinity’s paternal grandmother Kathleen Combo said Trinity was a “happy, smiley little baby”.

“I am a very spiritual Aboriginal woman and the death of Trinity has impacted me in many ways,” Ms Combo said.

“I wake up from sleep hearing her little laugh, I feel her weight in my bed beside me and sometimes I even dream that I can hear her little feet walking down the hallway or her knocking on my door.

“I cry for her, her death broke my heart and made me feel that the grief of her loss will drown me.”

Lavinia Alison Murray pleaded guilty to manslaughter

Trinity’s father Zephaniah Graham spoke of his tragic loss in a victim impact statement tendered to the court, saying he was traumatised by being unable to attend his daughter’s funeral and say goodbye.

He said the death sparked fighting between their families and that he now struggled to trust others.

Defence barrister Joseph Briggs said Murray, now 24, was a young woman with no criminal history.

“My client wasn’t a perfect mother by any means but she was a woman who, up until these tragic events occurred, was doing the best she could in the circumstances in which she found herself,” he said.

The court heard Murray suffered from an intellectual impairment and mental health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder.

Justice Paul Freeburn sentenced Murray to five years imprisonment to be suspended for five years after she has served 12 months in jail.

“Trinity’s death is a tragedy you will have to live with for the rest of your life,” he said.

“There are certainly devastating consequences for you as Trinity’s mother, for Trinity’s father and for other members of the family.

“That such a young life is lost for our community and your local community, in part that is because our community has been unable to keep a very young child safe.”