Man charged with murder 12 years after toddler’s death in Sydney

A man who was allegedly looking after a Sydney toddler when she died has been charged with her murder after more than a decade of investigations.

A man has been charged with murdering a toddler more than 12 years ago after multiple police investigations and a coronial inquest.

The 38-year-old man was arrested at Silverwater Correctional Centre on Tuesday morning and charged with the murder of a 21-month-old girl.

Police will allege in court the child sustained her injuries, which were caused by non-accidental trauma, while she was under the sole care of the man.

On the morning of September 25, 2009, emergency services were called to a medical centre on Nardoo Street, Ingleburn in Sydney’s southwest following reports a child was unresponsive.

A 38-year-old man has been charged with murder 12 years after the death of a toddler in Sydney. Picture: Nicholas Eagar / NCA NewsWire

Paramedics treated her at the scene for suspected head injuries, before she was flown to the Westmead Children’s hospital in a critical condition.

Her condition continued to deteriorate and she died five days later, police said.

A 2013 coronial inquest found she likely died of a blunt force head injury, but no one was charged after the findings were handed down.

NSW Police said they had conducted numerous inquiries into the incident before they ultimately arrested the man on Tuesday.

Detectives from the State Crime Command’s Unsolved Homicide Unit in August 2020 set up a strike force to further investigate the circumstances surrounding her death, which led them to the man who allegedly killed her.

He was refused bail to appear via audiovisual link at Campbelltown Local Court on Tuesday.

He is due to face court again on December 22.

Originally published as Man charged with murder 12 years after toddler’s death in Sydney