Aboriginal baby girl dies after police arrest her mother for questioning

A four-month-old Aboriginal baby girl has died while her mother was in police custody in the troubled outback town of Katherine.

A four-month-old Aboriginal baby girl died while her mother was in police custody in the troubled outback town of Katherine over the weekend, sparking urgent inquiries about the case from the Northern Territory’s powerful children’s commissioner.

A police spokeswoman confirmed late on Wednesday — in a media release issued three days after the incident and in response to inquiries from The Australian — that officers were investigating the circumstances surrounding the infant’s death.

Local residents described seeing police tape and a large con­tingent of emergency service personnel at the public housing property in Katherine East where the girl is believed to have been staying before her death on Sunday morning.

The unit is understood to have been occupied by an older man, who sources said was the young girl’s grandfather and who likely placed a triple-0 call that raised the alarm.

St John Ambulance dispatchers offered advice over the phone, and the girl was taken to a nearby hospital. But she was declared dead soon after her arrival.

Police are awaiting an autopsy result but are not treating the girl’s death as suspicious. “A 21-year old woman had been taken into police custody before the child’s death was reported to police,” a spokeswoman said in response to questions about her mother.

The girl’s untimely death and the mother’s stint in custody follow nationwide protests about ­disproportionately high rates of Aboriginal incarceration and promises from the federal government to co-operate with states and territories in bringing them down.

The Katherine incident raises particular questions about why authorities separated the 21-year-old mother from her infant daughter, and about whether they tried or did enough to ensure she and another sibling would receive ­adequate interim care.

The police spokeswoman would not say if officers knew the woman had young children depending on her when they took her away. A source with knowledge of the incident suggested she may have been drunk or argumentative at the time. “The matter is still under investigation, and a full report on the circumstances will be delivered to the coroner,” the spokeswoman said.

“This is a tragic event and the police are focused on completing a thorough investigation into all of the circumstances.”

The family is understood to be from the Katherine area but to normally reside near Elliott, about 400km south, with the younger child’s father.

A spokeswoman for Territory Families, the NT’s child protection authority, declined to say if the child’s family had been subject to child-protection notifications.

“Territory Families’s thoughts are with the baby’s family at this difficult time,” she said. “Territory Families will work with and assist police as required while they investigate this matter.”

NT children’s commissioner Colleen Gwynne told The Australian she was notified about the death in Katherine on Wednesday. “I have asked for further information and will undertake preliminary inquiries before I decide whether it requires a full investigation,” she said in an email.

The children’s commissioner has statutory powers to investigate and prepare a report that the responsible minister must table in parliament.

A spokeswoman for Territory Families Minister Dale Wakefield did not respond to questions.