SA Coroners inquest: Inside house of horrors where a 11-week-old baby died
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The wretched conditions inside a family home where an 11-week-old baby tragically died have been revealed for the first time, as an investigation is launched into the Department of Child Protection’s interactions with an ‘immature’ teenage mother prior to the newborn’s death. .
Faced with photos and police footage of the roach-infested house in South Australia, taken just hours after the tiny baby was found to be unresponsive in November 2018, they show the entire house in a horrifying state that , according to investigators, smelled of feces, urine and rotting food.
The floor of almost every room can be seen covered with rubbish, dirty diapers, animal feces, dirty dishes and rotten food scraps.
“There’s a pretty bad smell of animal feces throughout the house,” a detective explains during a tour as he coughs from the stench.
One of the officers recalled the living conditions as the worst he had seen in 20 years when he gave evidence at the SA Coroner’s Court on Tuesday.
For the first time, the terrible conditions faced by the police in a home where an 11-week-old baby tragically died are shown
The kitchen is littered with dirty pans on the stove, leftover pizza, open cans of formula, and baby bottles containing a putrid liquid that looks like curdled milk surrounded by flies.
The fridge was empty, apart from several boxes of pizza and a can of dog food, while the pantry also contained little food.
An SA coroner’s investigation that began Tuesday will focus on DCP’s response in the lead up to the boy’s death, which received 23 notifications about the living conditions of the baby and his older siblings between 2015 and 2018.
Many of the notifications predate the baby’s birth.
“It is very clear that (the baby) died living in poverty in a home that put him at risk of physical and psychological harm and the department had been alerted on numerous occasions about the living situation of these children,” said the lawyer who assisted coroner Sally Giles. said the inquiry.
‘This is not an exercise in criticizing a teenage mother… but [she] it was known by agencies that could have helped and one agency that could have intervened.’
The laundry room floor was covered in clothing, bedding, trash, and toilet paper.
In the kitchen, open cans of formula and bottles containing a putrid liquid that appeared to be curdled milk were swarming with flies.
SA Detective Brevet Sergeant Kym Mayger described living conditions in the house (pictured) as the worst he had seen in 20 years.
The newborn was sleeping on a pullout sofa with his mother and siblings at the time of his death.
A post mortem examination found that the baby died of a respiratory tract infection.
Ten days before the baby died, DCP received an urgent request for assistance from a rural non-profit agency regarding the baby’s living conditions.
The inquest heard that the family’s case manager raised concerns after the 18-year-old mother frequently denied her access to the home to conduct wellness checks on the children.
However, a rural Child Protection Department outpost did not have the “capacity” to intervene and closed the case three days later.
“The supervisor of (the department’s rural office) decided that the office did not have the capacity to handle the notification and on November 23 moved to close the notification,” said Ms Giles.
‘DCP took no action on the referral within that 10-day period and on the 10th day of that notification, [the boy] he died.’
Some of the bedroom sheets were covered in dirty feces and vomit, an inquest heard Tuesday.
SA Police Investigating Officer, Brevet Detective Sergeant Kym Mayger, who attended the house hours after the baby’s death, was the first witness to testify on Tuesday.
He told the inquest he believed the children had been living in “disgusting misery” for months and how he questioned the mother about a visible mark on the baby that stretched from chin to shoulder.
She told him it was caused by one of the baby’s siblings offering him a toy and accidentally hitting him on the chin.
I was not satisfied with his explanation. She described the injury as being in a different location,” she said.
“When I pointed out the wound to her throat and shoulder, she had no explanation.”
The court heard that it suspected the injuries resulted from the baby being crushed between a bed frame.
An investigation heard that the Department of Child Protection received 23 notifications about the living conditions (pictured) of the newborn and his older siblings between 2015 and 2018
The kitchen was dirty (left) with little food for the children in the fridge (right) or in the pantry
Kitchen cabinets (pictured) were full of everything but food
The detective added that the police had no prior knowledge of the family until after the baby’s death, despite their ability to assist the DCP with welfare checks.
“There has been no police assistance at all in that direction,” he told the court.
The baby’s mother was charged with three counts of failing to support her children.
He was saved from jail and posted a good behavior bond.
The inquest heard that she has since made significant improvements in caring for her two other children.
The investigation continues.
The whole house was in a horrible state where every room smelled of feces, urine and rotten food (in the photo is the bathroom and laundry room)
The investigation heard concerns raised by a rural non-profit agency after the baby’s mother, then 18, frequently denied him access to the home (pictured, one of the bedrooms)