Suspicious death of 11-year-old girl in Brisbane’s affluent Auchenflower

THE mother of an 11-year-old girl who suffered a violent death overnight has also been found dead, in what police have described as “an absolute tragedy”.

A high-rise complex where the body of an 11-year-old girl was found in Auchenflower, Brisbane, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. The body of her 49-year-old mother was found in the nearby suburb of Toowong. (AAP Image/Dan Peled) NO ARCHIVING

A MOTHER and daughter are dead in Brisbane’s inner-west in what police have described as an absolute tragedy.

Police were called to the family’s apartment in the affluent suburb of Auchenflower where they were confronted with the body of an 11-year-old child who suffered a violent death overnight.

The child’s mother, 49, was found by a member of the public in nearby Toowong having taken her own life, police said.

A call from concerned friends of the family at about 1.45am prompted police to visit the waterfront apartment building where the family live, including the girl’s eight-year-old sister and father, 65 who was sleeping at the residence when police arrived.

Police said the father was “horrendously upset” and was with detectives attempting to piece together the night’s events.

Police are in the very early stages of investigating the suspected murder-suicide.

“We have a family that’s been literally decimated as far as things go,” Detective Geoff Sheldon said. “It’s a tragedy all around that two members of this family are now deceased.

Queensland Police and forensic team scour the area around a unit complex behind a construction site in Toowong this morning. Pictures: Jack Tran

“Any death of a child is horrendous, this is particularly so.”

Detective Sheldon said the family was not known to police and the tragedies had “come out of left field”.

He assured the eight-year-old girl was being looked after “as best she can in horrendous circumstances like this”.

Detective Sheldon said police who attended the apartment following the “violent death” were also shaken.

“Nothing much more would be more horrific than that,” he said.

The investigation will now focus on determining how the child died and who is responsible.

Forensic detectives are continuing their investigations at both crime scenes.

A high-rise complex where the body of an 11-year-old girl was found in Auchenflower, Brisbane. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled