Mt Cotton death: Murder investigation launched into 2019 death of Sophie Smith, 11

Nicole Smith, the mother of 11-year-old Sophie whose 2019 death is now being treated as a homicide, has spoken out about the ‘biggest sh*t week of almost my entire life’.

Sophie Smith, 11, was found dead at her home at Mt Cotton southeast of Brisbane in August 2019.

The mother of an 11-year-old girl whose death in 2019 is now being treated as a homicide says “we have lawyered up” and “are ready to go to battle”.

Sophie died at her Mt Cotton home, southeast of Brisbane on August 1, 2019.

It’s understood Sophie, aged only 11 at the time of her death, had no obvious injuries when her body was located in what detectives initially believed to be a non-suspicious event.

No charges have been laid against any individual.

Detectives said at the time that Sophie’s death was non-suspicious. (AAP image, John Gass)

Sophie’s mother Nicole took to Facebook today to declare via video that “it’s a new week because last week was the biggest sh*t week of almost my entire life, actually it probably was”.

“Poor (family members), we’ve been upset, sad, stressed but today is a new day and we’ve got great support. And unfortunately we had to lawyer up- lawyer up and even got a barrister,” she said.

“So we are ready to go to battle. And battle we will because we want justice for us, for Sophie. It’s been ridiculous …”

Police at the Mt Cotton home a day after Sophie Smith’s body was found by a neighbour. (AAP image, John Gass)

Detective Inspector Stephen Hollands on Monday revealed the last confirmation Sophie was alive came five days before she was found dead in the master bedroom at her family home.

According to detectives, her mother, Nicole, took a picture of Sophie on Saturday, July 27, sharing it with relatives via text.

It was on Thursday, August 1 when Sophie’s father raised the alarm to the next door neighbour, claiming he was unable to make contact with either Sophie or Nicole.

He had been working out of town.

Police believe there was no contact between Sophie’s parents from July 27 until the day she was found deceased.

It was the neighbour who located Sophie’s body.

Det Insp Hollands confirmed Sophie’s autopsy had proven inconsistent, however said the toxicology report was now of significant interest to police.

There was no physical injuries or trauma to Sophie, he said.

There was also no evidence of an underlying medical condition.

Sophie Smith’s mother Nicole

Nicole said in the Facebook video that in the two years since Sophie’s death, the family had not had any closure.

“ … We’re totally done with the waiting game, we’ve waited long enough. We’re not waiting any longer. We need answers. We need real answers and we need justice.

“Sometimes the legal system sucks. Sometimes innocent people get convicted, and that’s not going to happen to us, because we will prevail, we will. We’ve found all the right people, we’ve got people on our side to fight for us.

“And the people who know what they’re doing, we don’t know what we’re doing which is quite obvious because we’ve ended up not having answers. We’re too nice, we’re too compliant, we’re too understanding, sometimes too understanding for our own good …

“Last week was a bit crappy, sad, we’re stressed, worried. This week we’re all good. We’re going hard, we’re going strong and we’re going to win. So watch this space because we’re Shining for Sophie. She’s up there …”

In the days following Sophie’s death, Cleveland Detective Inspector Owen Elloy said the circumstances were tragic but it was not being treated as suspicious nor as an accident, but forensic officers continued to investigate at the scene.

“Obviously it’s a very sad event and it’s not something at this point in time we believe is suspicious,” he said at the time.

“We’re now preparing a brief of evidence for the coroner.”

Just over 10 days ago Sophie’s parents wrote about their daughter on a Facebook page set up in her memory.

“If I could speak with only 1 person today it would be Sophie,” the post on Shine 4 Sophie said.

“Look at that smile. I got to see Sophie’s smile for almost 12 years. Now I look at photos and videos. It’s not the same but it will have to do for now.

“Love you baby girl. Give your big brother a hug from Mummy & Daddy.

“Pieces of our hearts are in heaven.”