12yo murder accused’s underwear found near body of slain woman

The naked body of a woman allegedly stabbed to death by a 12-year-old-girl in Footscray was found in an apartment littered with condoms and lubricant.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos NOVEMBER 16, 2023: Police investigate the overnight stabbing death at the former Royal Hotel in Footscray of a woman in her 30s. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

​A 12-year-old girl charged with murder told witnesses that a naked woman found stabbed to death in a Footscray apartment, lying near a pair of the child’s underwear, had killed herself.

The child, who was in state care, was found by two witnesses in an apartment hallway early on November 16, with blood on her bare feet and ankles, wearing a dress that was inside out and back to front.

Fresh details of the horror case were aired in a children’s court on Tuesday as police made an application for the girl’s DNA, fingerprints and footprints as they continue their probe.

The court heard the naked body of the woman, 37, was found in the blood-soaked bathroom with a knife in her closed fist.

Nearby was the child’s underwear, two unidentified footprints, and false fingernails that police believe are crucial to the case, understood to have earlier been worn by the girl.

A blood trail drag mark led from the kitchen, through the living room and into the bathroom.

The body of a 37-year-old woman was found in the blood-soaked bathroom of a Footscray apartment building. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The court heard the witnesses woke at 1.30am to a noise in the apartment building and went out to the hallway where they found a young girl crying.

The witnesses, who called triple-0, later said the child told them the woman had killed herself.

“I tried to drag her into the shower,” the girl allegedly said.

Police later found photos on the child’s phone that appeared to be of the woman’s body in the apartment, taken at about 12.52am where she had “visible wounds”, along with photos of the girl wearing her dress inside-out that she had taken of herself after the police arrived.

On the victim’s phone, the court heard there were “selfie type images” of the girl where her dress was correctly worn.

The woman had suffered multiple stab wounds, the most serious being to her groin.

A homicide police officer told the court there were incised wounds “almost over the entire body – the left arm, the left side of her face, the torso, and one of the most severe wounds was near the groin and also around the pubic area”.

There was no bed in the apartment, rather just a mattress on the lounge room floor that the court heard was strewn with condoms, condom wrappers, lubricant and a broken condom over a deodorant can.

The woman had stab wounds ‘almost over her entire body’, with the most severe wounds to the groin and pubic area. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

False fingernails were also found in a towel in and around the loungeroom, one with blood on it.

When the coroner removed the dead woman from a body bag for examination, a false nail fell out of the bag.

The same fake nails were found in a bag that the child was carrying at the scene that she was “trying to walk away with”.

In that bag, police found the mobile phone of the victim and the child, a skirt that appeared to have blood on the waistband, full and empty packets of false nails, some jewellery and the dead woman’s wallet.

The court heard the child could be seen on CCTV six hours before the woman’s body was found, at a nearby bottle shop and that she was wearing what appeared to be matching false nails.

The girl was captured on footage at the store where she “attempted to steal a bottle and the owner ended up shooing her out,” the police officer said.

An hour earlier, she had been seen on CCTV at Footscray Railway Station.

. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

A dress and jacket she was wearing were later found at the crime scene, along with blood-soaked white sneakers, and what was believed to be her underwear in the bathroom.

The child was only wearing an oversized dress when she was located at the scene.

A lawyer for the prosecution said there was “no motive” that had yet been established for the alleged murder.

However, the lawyer said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the child had committed the offence, pointing to the false fingernails and blood on the shoes.

Police need a court to grant permission to take the girl’s DNA and prints, as she can’t consent due to her age.

The homicide squad officer said the information was sought to “show the accused was the only person there”, with footprints, fingerprints and DNA currently unidentified at the crime scene.

Whether the girl can be held criminally responsible for murder is yet to be determined by the courts. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

A lawyer for the prosecution told the court the application was required to determine “the narrative of how this offending occurred”.

The application was adjourned part-heard, and will return to court in March.

The child, who has been in the state’s care from a young age, had run away from carers 275 times over three years.

The Supreme Court earlier heard she was substance affected when she was treated at hospital hours after the alleged murder.

The State – her legal guardian – sought a gag order to prevent details of the case from being made public.

But the Supreme Court last month ruled against an order, finding it was not necessary to protect the girl’s identity.

A lawyer for the girl on Tuesday flagged the issue of the girl being identified through details aired about the crime scene.

But a children’s court magistrate found there was no need to go over the gag order issue again.

“I’m just concerned everyone keeps saying don’t touch the pot because it’s hot,” the magistrate said.

His Honour said the Supreme Court had made its ruling and “we really need to move on now”.

It still remains to be determined whether the girl could be held criminally responsible for murder due to her young age, as per the rule of doli incapax.

The magistrate on Tuesday compared her case to that of a boy, 13, found not guilty last year of the murder of teen Declan Cutler.

His Honour noted that in the case of the girl, prosecutors likely had “less” evidence - in particular a lack of motive – to prove responsibility than they did in the case of the boy.

The girl, who did not appear in the children’s court on Tuesday, is set to return to the Supreme Court next week to review her bail.

She’s currently on bail in a secure residential unit that enables therapeutic treatment.

In December, the state unsuccessfully sought to revoke her bail and have her moved to juvenile detention.