Suicide of nine-year-old Darwin girl an ‘unbelievably uncommon’ event, inquest hears

The suicide of a nine-year-old Darwin girl in foster care was an ‘unbelievably uncommon’ event, the inquest into her death has heard.

THE suicide of a nine-year-old Darwin girl in foster care was an “unbelievably uncommon” event, the inquest into her death has heard.

The girl, who the court has referred to as “Sammy”, ended her own life in March last year after being permanently removed from her parents at the age of 10 months.

On Wednesday, leading Victorian paediatrician Rick Jarman told the court there had not been a single suicide of a child under the age of 12 in his home state in at least the past 30 years.

Counsel assisting Coroner Elisabeth Armitage, Kelvin Currie, questioned Dr Jarman as to whether someone should have asked the girl if she was having thoughts of ending her life in the lead-up to her death.

But Dr Jarman said none of the international best practice guidelines recommended doing so in young children in the absence of any “red flags”.

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“There’s a negative aspect to asking young kids whether they want to kill themselves when you’ve got no suspicion but the reality is – and it’s easy to be smart in hindsight – if someone had asked this little girl in the days beforehand, we might have got a positive answer to some of that stuff and it might have taken things in a different direction,” he said.

Dr Jarman said while two suicide notes found after Sammy’s death indicated she had “had these thoughts in her head for a period of time”, it was questionable whether the risk could have been picked up sooner.

“If someone had read the note she left or found the note she’d left in her bedroom before the event then that might have taken things in a different direction,” he said.

“If someone had checked on her after she’d been outside for an hour an a half that might have taken things in a different direction.

“It’s all very well being smart with the benefit of hindsight (but) would it have been possible to pick up on the fact that this little girl was chronically depressed beforehand? Was she? What was the evidence for that?”

Ms Armitage will hand down her findings at a date to be fixed.

Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800.