Trial over murder of Nikki Francis-Coslovich continues in Mildura
A TODDLER laid defenceless in her final hours while her mother and her boyfriend allegedly smoked weed and had sex.
A TODDLER laid defenceless in her final hours while her mother and her boyfriend allegedly smoked weed and had sex.
In August last year, two-year-old Nikki Francis-Coslovich was found dead in a roof cavity and the hours leading up to her murder show she was tortured and may have suffered for up to an hour before she died in her Mildura home.
John Torney was dating the toddler’s mother, Peta-Ann Francis, at the time of the death and is on trial for Nikki’s murder.
He was accused of bashing the two-year-old to death and today the court will hear evidence from the child protection agency that had been monitoring the toddler’s welfare.
Torney, 32, has pleaded not guilty to the murder.
The court heard yesterday Torney had been babysitting Nikki while her mother was out running errands on August 25, proved by CCTV vision.
About 2.40pm, Ms Francis noticed her daughter was missing and her and Torney searched the home and neighbouring properties.
Tripe-0 was called at 3.30pm and police arrived shortly after to search the area with neighbours and volunteers.
At 5.15pm, police searched the house for a second time and an officer found Nikki’s body in the roof cavity of the home, she had no pulse.
About 15 minutes later, paramedics confirmed she was dead. About 6pm her rigor mortis, stiffening of joint and muscles a few hours after death, set in.
Ms Francis was arrested but not charged. A pathologist later found Nikki died between 11am and 2.30pm and had blunt force trauma injuries to her liver, kidney and skull.
She’d lost a third of her blood volume and it was determined she would have died within an hour of receiving her fatal injuries.
AAP reports the prosecutor said Torney allegedly bashed the toddler between 10am and 2pm while Ms Francis was away. He allegedly hid the body in the roof cavity.
The defence said however Ms Francis allegedly told Torney she had hurt Nikki and allegedly asked Torney to hide the girl’s body, and go along with the missing person’s report.
On Wednesday the court heard Torney alleged his former girlfriend murdered her daughter.
Torney’s denial came after the prosecution claimed the pair had smoked cannabis and had sex either after or before he allegedly killed the two-year-old.
While the prosecution allege Torney bashed her to death, he told police Ms Francis told him she had “gone too far” with Nikki, while his defence says she told “big, bad lies”.
Torney said in a police interview after he was charged with murder that Ms Francis allegedly told him, “I’ve gone too far with Nikki, she’s not breathing”, while standing in the toddler’s bedroom.
Barrister Julie Condon said Ms Francis told Torney she had thrown the girl on the bed, and asked him to hide the body and go along with the missing person’s story.
“She’s a woman who has spun so many lies, not little lies but big, bad ones,” Ms Condon said in her defence opening statement to the trial.
Ms Francis’ alleged lies and inconsistent statements to police “speak of a guilty conscience”, she said
Ms Condon says a recording of the triple-0 call that Ms Francis made to report Nikki’s disappearance — to be played to the jury — shows Ms Francis was unable to respond to the operator’s question about when she last saw her daughter.
Ms Francis had been monitored by child protection officers, and was not coping with the demands of motherhood, Torney’s defence says.
Child protection workers intervened in the care of the Victorian toddler but decided things had improved less than two months before she was beaten to death.
The Department of Human Services intervened in Nikki’s care several times before closing her file on July 13, 2015 child protection manager Teresa Cavallo told the Victorian Supreme Court trial on Thursday.
The trial continues and is expected to last three weeks.