Dead girl was 'invisible' to state system: coroner
June 27, 2014
The girl's death is being examined by the Queensland Coroner. Photo: Louie Douvis
A Queensland girl who was repeatedly bashed with a metal pole by her mother asked the woman to pray for her hours before she died alone and in pain.
The horrific abuse the eight-year-old was subjected to in the days leading up to her death in Cairns in 2011 was outlined by a Coroner on Friday.
"I flogged her with the vacuum pole in her room and kept hitting her and hitting her," the girl's mother told police after the death.
The girl was beaten with the pole on three occasions between November 22 and 28, 2011.
During the days in between she lay in bed in pain.
On one occasion the girl was bashed so hard the pole bent so that sharp points along its length cut the girl every time she was hit.
Following a beating on November 28, 2011, the girl asked her mother for drugs to relieve the pain, but the woman said there was none in the house.
The girl replied: "Well could you at least say a prayer for me?"
She died later that day.
An autopsy revealed the girl, whose body was covered in bruises, died from the effects of blunt force injuries and congenital heart disease.
The girl would have been in significant pain and had difficulty walking for several days leading up to her death.
An inquest looking into the involvement government departments, private agencies and the girl's extended family had with the girl was held this month in Cairns.
Northern Coroner Jane Bentley said Queensland's child safety department and abuse preventative agency Act for Kids didn't do enough to protect the girl.
The inquest heard the girl became "invisible" in the system, despite abuse claims in 2009 and 2010, and it went undetected that she didn't attend school for a year before her death.
Coroner Bentley said it was "inexplicable" the girl's extended family, including her aunt, uncle and step grandparents, knew about the abuse but didn't tell authorities.
The girl's step grandfather said he'd noticed bruising on the girl for 12 months before her death.
Coroner Bentley said the girl was a defenceless child who died "alone and in pain".
There were no reports of the other children at the house being abused.
The mother is serving a seven year jail sentence after last year pleading guilty to manslaughter.
The girl's stepfather was sentenced to three years jail on the same charge after admitting he turned a blind eye to the abuse.
The family can't be named for legal reasons.
AAP
SOURCE: news.com
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