Aunt of missing toddler Rahma El-Dennaoui thought she heard a baby crying 'mama'

AN aunt of missing toddler Rahma El-Dennaoui thought she heard her niece crying outside her house a few days after the girl disappeared.

AN aunt of missing toddler Rahma El-Dennaoui thought she heard her niece crying outside her house a few days after the young girl disappeared but did not investigate the distressing sound, an inquest heard today.

Glebe Coroner's Court was told Rouba Dennaoui, who lived not far from her niece's Lurnea home, heard a "deep cry" coming from the direction of a vacant property next to her house not long after Rahma vanished.

"I could hear the crying from somewhere in the street, it was really, really close to me," she said.

"Really clear, I can hear it really clear. I can hear the baby saying 'mama'."

Rahma disappeared from her bedroom early on November 10, 2005 after she was put to bed at about 2am.

The flyscreen above the queen bed the toddler shared with two sisters was found cut when Rahma's siblings discovered her missing at about 8.30am.

Mrs Dennaoui said she thought the crying was from a baby about Rahma's age and it sounded like the child was hurt.

Counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer asked if she thought the crying child was Rahma.

"Might be," Mrs Dennaoui replied.

But she said she ran back into her house and couldn't remember telling her husband or Rahma's mother Alyaa El-Dennaoui, who she described as a good friend, about the crying.

The inquest continues this afternoon.