No justice for baby Rahma

AFTER a seven-year investigation a coroner has been unable to determine if missing baby Rahma El-Dennaoui is dead or alive.

RAHMA El-Dennaoui should be enjoying school, story books and games with her friends - but after a seven-year investigation a coroner has been unable to determine even if the young girl is dead or alive.

After an inquest spanning nearly four weeks and featuring more than 40 witnesses, Deputy State Coroner Sharon Freund yesterday said she could not narrow down the possible reasons for the toddler's disappearance.

"Only those involved with her disappearance know the truth - and they will ultimately be held accountable," Ms Freund said.

Ms Freund handed down an open finding and referred the case back to the Homicide Squad for further investigation - declaring the child did not "simply vanish into thin air" when she was last seen in November 2005.

"No toddler or child should disappear in this day and age in suburban Australia," she said.

Rahma's parents Hosayn and Alyaa El-Dennaoui have said they last saw the 20-month-old - the second youngest of their then eight children - when she was put to bed about 2am.

Her siblings woke to find her gone and a hole cut in the fly screen above her bed.

But Ms Freund said there had been a number of "inconsistencies and unsettling issues" in evidence from the toddler's immediate family, who she could not rule out had staged an abduction.

Detective Sergeant Nick Sedgwick, who led the seven-year investigation into the disappearance, revealed during the inquest that he now thought the 20-month-old probably died in an accident at her home before her family disposed of the body.

In his statement to the coroner he said he was convinced both parents and at least five other extended family members had some knowledge of what happened.

Ms Freund said telephone intercepts of calls made during the inquest revealed "puzzling" family behaviour, with jokes about Rahma's kidnapping and splitting reward money being out of keeping with the behaviour you would expect from grieving relatives.

A neighbour also told police about a conversation with Mr El-Dennaoui less than a month after the disappearance when she lost her German shepherd. He allegedly told her: "I lost my daughter - don't worry, my wife is having another child. You can just buy another dog."

But Ms Freund said there remained "no conclusive evidence" to show Rahma's family had any involvement.

Outside the court yesterday, Mr El-Dennaoui said his family still had no idea what happened to his daughter.

"We would like to know - we were not involved. Me and my wife, we haven't done anything to Rahma," he said.