Child neglect worse than Africa

The now well-kept house in Mirima Reserve, where the baby girl died on a filthy mattress under the veranda between her alcoholic parents.

An inquest into the death of a five-month-old Aboriginal child in Kununurra is likely to shake the Department for Community Development (DCD) to its foundations.

The inquest into the death of the infant began in Kununurra on Monday and, at the time of going to press, looked likely to go until Friday.

Coroner Alastair Hope was told that the baby died on a filthy mattress, between her alcoholic parents, on a veranda in Mirima Reserve.

It was alleged that the baby had been severely neglected and her appalling state of welfare had been ignored by the DCD.

WA long-standing pathologist Karin Margolius said it was the worst case of child neglect she had seen.

The child's body was riddled with scabies and the nappy rash so severe that her dark skin had turned white from her groin to halfway up her back.

Desperate extended family members had taken the child to the Kununurra DCD office six weeks before her death and pleaded with the DCD to remove the child from parents Elizabeth Carlton and George Sturt.

Kununurra Det. Sgt Tim Lines told the inquiry DCD staff had obstructed his inquiries into the death and had been issued with a memo telling them not to answer police questions.

The lawyer assisting the coroner Domenic Mulligan said, in his opening address, that had the DCD taken action on May 5, 2005, the baby would not have died on July 2.

He said that the family believed a further meeting would take place with DCD staff, but this did not happen.

Instead, the file was handed to a final-year social work student to investigate and that student accepted hearsay comments from others that the baby was 'doing well'.

Dr Margolius said the case was the worst he had ever seen and that included his experience in Africa.

At the time of death, the baby had chronic pneumonia, scabies, malnutrition, dehydration and was unwashed.

Days before her death, the baby had been taken to a doctor to be treated for a cough.

Coroner Hope asked if the baby had been removed from the parents at this stage and placed in a safe healthy environment, would she have lived.

Dr Margolius replied: "Correct".

Relative of the deceased Ronnie Yundan told the inquest on Tuesday afternoon that had the DCD taken the baby away from the parents and placed her with 'Aunty Lucy' the baby would still be alive today.

"If you're an unfit mother, you're unfit," he said.

"Aunty Lucy would have been happy to look after that baby."

The inquest is continuing.