Latest news with #CoronersCourt
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Former rugby league star, 50, named as 'murder victim' after he was found dead at a flat in a Manchester estate
A former rugby league star has been named as a 'murder victim' after he was found dead at a flat in a Manchester estate. The body of Mick Martindale, 50, was discovered at the property on May 28 with police arresting a 64-year-old man, who was later bailed, on suspicion of murder. A murder inquiry was launched immediately with the cause of the popular ex Oldham player's death 'undetermined' but being treated as 'suspicious' by Greater Manchester Police. An inquest will be opened into the loose forward's death in due course, a spokesperson for Rochdale Coroners' Court confirmed. Mr Martindale's family is currently being given support by specially-trained officers, Manchester Evening News reports. Meanwhile, police have been going door-to-door on the estate to make enquiries and offer 'community reassurance' to those living there. Detective Inspector Andrew Barrett, from Oldham CID, said on Saturday: 'We are working hard to understand what has happened and get the answers his family deserve. 'At the moment, the man's cause of death is undetermined, but enquiries are ongoing, and we have made an arrest to progress this investigation forward. 'We have already spoken to several people living in the area, but house to house enquiries are continuing throughout the day. 'We would ask anyone who may have any information about the incident to please pass this onto officers, as it could be of great assistance.' MailOnline has approached Greater Manchester Police and Rochdale Coroners' Court for comment. Mr Martindale played for Oldham Rugby League Football Club in the late 90s and the team's Heritage Trust said he started out for Halifax Panthers as a teenager, before heading to Wakefield and then Oldham and Rochdale. The star lifted the National Cup while at Oldham St Anne's, who he later coached after retiring as a player. Tributes soon started pouring in for the sportstar, known as 'Tricky', following the tragic news. Oldham RLFC said: 'We are saddened to learn of the passing of our former player Mick Martindale. 'Mick wore the Oldham shirt with pride in the late 90s, and was a well-known face throughout our community game, as well as in his coaching roles at Oldham St Anne's. The club sends its condolences to Mick's family and friends. RIP Tricky.' Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust gave a biography of his career in an emotional Facebook post and added that Mick was a 'larger than life character gone far too soon', and recalled that he had 'remained a popular and well known figure in the amateur game'. Meanwhile, Waterhead Warriors ARLC posted: 'Waterhead are saddened to hear the passing of Mick Martindale. Sending condolences to Mick's family and everyone at St Anne's rugby club.' His boyhood club Halifax Panthers added: 'Halifax Panthers are saddened to learn of the passing of former player Mick Martindale over the weekend. 'Mick made his debut for Halifax as a teenager back in 1994, going on to make 7 first team appearances in blue and white Our sincere condolences go out to his family and friends at this sad time. RIP' Saddleworth Rangers posted: 'We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Mick Martindale. 'We send our condolences to all his family, friends and to all who knew and loved him. May he rest in peace.' Former player Mickii Edwards said: 'Absolutely loved Mick Martindale and what a player he was. Much loved by everyone... you will be greatly missed.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
How Bondi mass killer slipped through the cracks in Australia
For many, Saturdays are something to look forward to - relaxed times, enjoyed with family and friends. But Elizabeth Young "dreads" them. It's a weekly reminder of her daughter Jade's violent murder at Westfield Bondi Junction. "On a lovely autumn afternoon, to learn your daughter is dead, stabbed in broad daylight, killed amidst fellow unsuspecting shoppers... [when she] was living, breathing, just an hour ago... it's the stuff of nightmares, of a parallel universe," Elizabeth told an inquiry into the mass killing this week. "The moment [the attacker] casually plunged that knife into Jade, our ordinary lives were shattered." Her pain was echoed by families of the other victims who gave emotional testimonies on the final day of a five-week coronial inquest into the fatal stabbings on 13 April last year. The inquiry sought to understand how a 40-year-old Queensland man with a long history of mental illness was able to walk into the popular Sydney shopping centre on a busy Saturday afternoon and kill six people, injuring 10 others including a nine-month-old baby. The court heard hours of evidence from dozens of witnesses - doctors, survivors, victims' families, police - in a bid to find out how, or if, Australia can prevent a such a tragedy happening again. "It seems to me that my daughter and five others were killed by the cumulative failures of numbers of people within a whole series of fallible systems," Elizabeth told New South Wales (NSW) Coroners Court. It was a mild, sparkling afternoon - the first day of school holidays – when Joel Cauchi walked into the sprawling shopping centre, just minutes from Australia's most famous beach. Just before 15:33 local time (GMT), Cauchi took a 30cm knife from his backpack and stabbed to death his first victim, 25-year-old Dawn Singleton. Within three minutes, he had fatally attacked five others – Yixuan Cheng, 27; Jade Young, 47, Ashlee Good, 38; Faraz Tahir, 30; and Pikria Darchia, 55. Cauchi also injured 10 others including Good's infant daughter. At 15:38, five minutes after his rampage started, Cauchi was shot dead by police officer Amy Scott, who had been on duty nearby and arrived at the centre about a minute earlier. As news outlets reported on the killings, Cauchi's parents recognised their son on TV and called the police to alert them about his decades-long struggle with serious mental health problems. Jade Young's family was also confronted by images of her on TV, describing to the inquest the horror of seeing video which showed her "lifeless body being worked on". Similarly, Julie Singleton, whose daughter Dawn was killed while standing in a line at a bakery, heard her daughter named as a victim on the radio before her body had even been formally identified and other relatives informed. The scenes at Bondi sent shockwaves across the nation, where mass murder is rare, and prompted a rush of anger and fear from women in particular. All except two of the 16 victims were female, including five of the six people who died. 'I saw him running with the knife': Witnesses tell of Sydney stabbing horror An attack on women that has devastated Australia Sydney stabbings: Who were the victims? A key focus of the inquest was to scrutinise the multiple interactions Cauchi had with police and mental health professionals in the months and years leading up to the attacks. The inquest heard that Cauchi was once a bright young man with a promising life ahead of him. His family say he was a gifted student, and had attended a private school on scholarship before topping his class at university. At the age of 17, in 2001, Cauchi was diagnosed with schizophrenia and soon started taking medication for his condition. After a decade of managing it in the public health system, Cauchi started regular sessions with psychiatrist Dr Andrea Boros-Lavack in his hometown of Toowoomba in 2012. In 2015 he complained about the medication side effects, so Dr Boros-Lavack started to gradually reduce his dosage of clozapine – used for treatment-resistant schizophrenia – after seeking a second opinion from another psychiatrist, the inquest heard. She weaned him off clozapine entirely in 2018 and Cauchi also stopped taking medication to treat his obsessive-compulsive disorder the year after, she said. In 2019, for the first time in about 15 years, Cauchi was no longer on antipsychotic medications. No second opinion on completely stopping either drug was sought by Dr Boros-Lavack, she admitted under questioning. The inquest heard from medical professionals who said that in most cases, patients coming off antipsychotic medications transition to another one, rather than ceasing treatment altogether. Within months, Cauchi's mum contacted his psychiatrist with concerns about her son's mental state after finding notes showing he believed he was "under satanic control". Around the same time, Cauchi developed what Dr Boros-Lavack told the inquest was "a compulsive interest in porn". She wrote a prescription but told the inquest it was up to Cauchi to decide if he would start taking the medication again. In 2020, Cauchi left his family home, moved to Brisbane and stopped seeing Dr Boros-Lavack. At this time, after almost two decades of treatment, Cauchi had no regular psychiatrist, was not on any medications to treat his schizophrenia and had no family living nearby. The inquest heard he began seeking a gun licence, contacting three Brisbane doctors for a medical certificate to support his application. They either didn't request access to his medical file or weren't given his whole history by Dr Boros-Lavack, who said if they needed more information they could have asked her for it. The third doctor gave Cauchi the clearance he was after, but he never applied for a gun, the court was told. Meanwhile Cauchi was increasingly coming into contact with police. After moving to Brisbane, he was pulled over three times for driving erratically. In 2021, officers were called to Cauchi's unit in Brisbane after residents heard a man screaming and banging sounds. In 2022, Cauchi was reported to police after calling a girl's school to ask if he could come and watch the students swim and play sports. Officers tried to call Cauchi but weren't able to reach him. In January 2023, Cauchi had moved back in with his parents in Toowoomba and called police to complain that his father had stolen his collection of "pigging knives". At this time, his mother raised concerns with the officers, saying he should be back on medication. Authorities can't detain people for mental health reasons unless they are a risk to themselves and as the officers had assessed Cauchi did not meet that description, they left, the court heard. After the call-out, one of the attending police officers sent an email to an internal police mental health coordinator, requesting they follow up on Cauchi. However, the email was overlooked due to understaffing, the inquest was told. Months later, police in Sydney found Cauchi sleeping rough near a road after being called by a concerned passerby. By 2024 Cauchi's mental health had deteriorated, he was homeless, and isolated from his family. The inquest looked closely at Cauchi's mental health treatment in Queensland, with a panel of five psychiatrists tasked with reviewing it. They found that Dr Boros-Lavack had missed opportunities to put him back on anti-psychotic medication, one member of the panel saying she had "not taken seriously enough" the concerns from Cauchi's mother in late-2019. The panel also gave evidence at the inquest that Cauchi was "floridly psychotic" - in the active part of a psychotic episode – when he walked into the shopping centre. When questioned by the lawyer assisting the coroner, Dr Boros-Lavack stressed: "I did not fail in my care of Joel." She had earlier told the inquest she believed Cauchi was not psychotic during the attack and that medication would not have prevented the tragedy. Dr Boros-Lavack said the attacks may have been "due to his sexual frustration, pornography and hatred towards women". But the next day, she withdrew that evidence, saying it was simply "conjecture" and she was not in a position to assess Cauchi's mental state, having not treated him since 2019. However the inquest is investigating whether Cauchi targeted specific individuals or groups. For Peter Young, the brother of Jade, the answer seemed clear. "Fuelled by his frustration with not finding a 'nice' girl to marry", his "rapid hunt found 16 victims, 14 of which were women," he told the inquest. The NSW Police Commissioner in the days after the attack said it was "obvious" to detectives that the offender had focussed on women. However, during the inquest, the homicide squad's Andrew Paul Marks said he did not believe there was evidence that Cauchi had specifically targeted women. The inquiry also heard about a number of failings or near misses in the way security, police, paramedics and the media responded to the attack. It was told that recruitment and training pressures for the security provider meant that the centre's control room operator was "not match fit" for the role. At the exact moment when Cauchi stabbed his first victim, the room was unattended as she was on a toilet break. Security guard Faraz Tahir, the sole male victim of the stabbings, was working his first day on the job when he was killing trying to stop Cauchi, raising questions over the powers and protection given to personnel like him. His brother, Muzafar, told the inquest how Faraz died "with honour as a hero" and also acknowledged that Cauchi's parents had lost their son: "We know that this tragedy is not their fault." The contractor responsible for security at the shopping centre has since updated its training and policies, as well as introducing stab-proof vests for guards. Several families criticised media coverage in the wake of the attack, telling the inquiry they hoped the industry would reflect on how they should report sensitive stories so as not to further traumatise those affected. After weeks of evidence, the inquest was adjourned on Thursday with NSW state coroner Teresa O'Sullivan expected to deliver her recommendations by the end of the year. At the start of the inquest, O'Sullivan said the hearings weren't about who was to blame for the attacks, but rather to "identify potential opportunities for reform or improvement to enable such events to be avoided in the future". "I want the families to know their loved ones will not be lost in this process." Elizabeth Young, though, told the court, for her, "nothing good" will come from the inquest. "At 74, I have lost my way in life," she said, describing the crippling impact of the killings. But she said the action the country needed to take was already obvious to her. "My daughter was murdered by an unmedicated, chronic schizophrenic... who had in his possession knives designed for killing. "[This is] another cry out to an Australia that doesn't seem to want to acknowledge that what happened... is essentially the catastrophic consequence of years of neglect of, and within, our mental health systems."
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
How Bondi mass killer slipped through the cracks in Australia
For many, Saturdays are something to look forward to - relaxed times, enjoyed with family and friends. But Elizabeth Young "dreads" them. It's a weekly reminder of her daughter Jade's violent murder at Westfield Bondi Junction. "On a lovely autumn afternoon, to learn your daughter is dead, stabbed in broad daylight, killed amidst fellow unsuspecting shoppers... [when she] was living, breathing, just an hour ago... it's the stuff of nightmares, of a parallel universe," Elizabeth told an inquiry into the mass killing this week. "The moment [the attacker] casually plunged that knife into Jade, our ordinary lives were shattered." Her pain was echoed by families of the other victims who gave emotional testimonies on the final day of a five-week coronial inquest into the fatal stabbings on 13 April last year. The inquiry sought to understand how a 40-year-old Queensland man with a long history of mental illness was able to walk into the popular Sydney shopping centre on a busy Saturday afternoon and kill six people, injuring 10 others including a nine-month-old baby. The court heard hours of evidence from dozens of witnesses - doctors, survivors, victims' families, police - in a bid to find out how, or if, Australia can prevent a such a tragedy happening again. "It seems to me that my daughter and five others were killed by the cumulative failures of numbers of people within a whole series of fallible systems," Elizabeth told New South Wales (NSW) Coroners Court. It was a mild, sparkling afternoon - the first day of school holidays – when Joel Cauchi walked into the sprawling shopping centre, just minutes from Australia's most famous beach. Just before 15:33 local time (GMT), Cauchi took a 30cm knife from his backpack and stabbed to death his first victim, 25-year-old Dawn Singleton. Within three minutes, he had fatally attacked five others – Yixuan Cheng, 27; Jade Young, 47, Ashlee Good, 38; Faraz Tahir, 30; and Pikria Darchia, 55. Cauchi also injured 10 others including Good's infant daughter. At 15:38, five minutes after his rampage started, Cauchi was shot dead by police officer Amy Scott, who had been on duty nearby and arrived at the centre about a minute earlier. As news outlets reported on the killings, Cauchi's parents recognised their son on TV and called the police to alert them about his decades-long struggle with serious mental health problems. Jade Young's family was also confronted by images of her on TV, describing to the inquest the horror of seeing video which showed her "lifeless body being worked on". Similarly, Julie Singleton, whose daughter Dawn was killed while standing in a line at a bakery, heard her daughter named as a victim on the radio before her body had even been formally identified and other relatives informed. The scenes at Bondi sent shockwaves across the nation, where mass murder is rare, and prompted a rush of anger and fear from women in particular. All except two of the 16 victims were female, including five of the six people who died. 'I saw him running with the knife': Witnesses tell of Sydney stabbing horror An attack on women that has devastated Australia Sydney stabbings: Who were the victims? A key focus of the inquest was to scrutinise the multiple interactions Cauchi had with police and mental health professionals in the months and years leading up to the attacks. The inquest heard that Cauchi was once a bright young man with a promising life ahead of him. His family say he was a gifted student, and had attended a private school on scholarship before topping his class at university. At the age of 17, in 2001, Cauchi was diagnosed with schizophrenia and soon started taking medication for his condition. After a decade of managing it in the public health system, Cauchi started regular sessions with psychiatrist Dr Andrea Boros-Lavack in his hometown of Toowoomba in 2012. In 2015 he complained about the medication side effects, so Dr Boros-Lavack started to gradually reduce his dosage of clozapine – used for treatment-resistant schizophrenia – after seeking a second opinion from another psychiatrist, the inquest heard. She weaned him off clozapine entirely in 2018 and Cauchi also stopped taking medication to treat his obsessive-compulsive disorder the year after, she said. In 2019, for the first time in about 15 years, Cauchi was no longer on antipsychotic medications. No second opinion on completely stopping either drug was sought by Dr Boros-Lavack, she admitted under questioning. The inquest heard from medical professionals who said that in most cases, patients coming off antipsychotic medications transition to another one, rather than ceasing treatment altogether. Within months, Cauchi's mum contacted his psychiatrist with concerns about her son's mental state after finding notes showing he believed he was "under satanic control". Around the same time, Cauchi developed what Dr Boros-Lavack told the inquest was "a compulsive interest in porn". She wrote a prescription but told the inquest it was up to Cauchi to decide if he would start taking the medication again. In 2020, Cauchi left his family home, moved to Brisbane and stopped seeing Dr Boros-Lavack. At this time, after almost two decades of treatment, Cauchi had no regular psychiatrist, was not on any medications to treat his schizophrenia and had no family living nearby. The inquest heard he began seeking a gun licence, contacting three Brisbane doctors for a medical certificate to support his application. They either didn't request access to his medical file or weren't given his whole history by Dr Boros-Lavack, who said if they needed more information they could have asked her for it. The third doctor gave Cauchi the clearance he was after, but he never applied for a gun, the court was told. Meanwhile Cauchi was increasingly coming into contact with police. After moving to Brisbane, he was pulled over three times for driving erratically. In 2021, officers were called to Cauchi's unit in Brisbane after residents heard a man screaming and banging sounds. In 2022, Cauchi was reported to police after calling a girl's school to ask if he could come and watch the students swim and play sports. Officers tried to call Cauchi but weren't able to reach him. In January 2023, Cauchi had moved back in with his parents in Toowoomba and called police to complain that his father had stolen his collection of "pigging knives". At this time, his mother raised concerns with the officers, saying he should be back on medication. Authorities can't detain people for mental health reasons unless they are a risk to themselves and as the officers had assessed Cauchi did not meet that description, they left, the court heard. After the call-out, one of the attending police officers sent an email to an internal police mental health coordinator, requesting they follow up on Cauchi. However, the email was overlooked due to understaffing, the inquest was told. Months later, police in Sydney found Cauchi sleeping rough near a road after being called by a concerned passerby. By 2024 Cauchi's mental health had deteriorated, he was homeless, and isolated from his family. The inquest looked closely at Cauchi's mental health treatment in Queensland, with a panel of five psychiatrists tasked with reviewing it. They found that Dr Boros-Lavack had missed opportunities to put him back on anti-psychotic medication, one member of the panel saying she had "not taken seriously enough" the concerns from Cauchi's mother in late-2019. The panel also gave evidence at the inquest that Cauchi was "floridly psychotic" - in the active part of a psychotic episode – when he walked into the shopping centre. When questioned by the lawyer assisting the coroner, Dr Boros-Lavack stressed: "I did not fail in my care of Joel." She had earlier told the inquest she believed Cauchi was not psychotic during the attack and that medication would not have prevented the tragedy. Dr Boros-Lavack said the attacks may have been "due to his sexual frustration, pornography and hatred towards women". But the next day, she withdrew that evidence, saying it was simply "conjecture" and she was not in a position to assess Cauchi's mental state, having not treated him since 2019. However the inquest is investigating whether Cauchi targeted specific individuals or groups. For Peter Young, the brother of Jade, the answer seemed clear. "Fuelled by his frustration with not finding a 'nice' girl to marry", his "rapid hunt found 16 victims, 14 of which were women," he told the inquest. The NSW Police Commissioner in the days after the attack said it was "obvious" to detectives that the offender had focussed on women. However, during the inquest, the homicide squad's Andrew Paul Marks said he did not believe there was evidence that Cauchi had specifically targeted women. The inquiry also heard about a number of failings or near misses in the way security, police, paramedics and the media responded to the attack. It was told that recruitment and training pressures for the security provider meant that the centre's control room operator was not "competent". At the exact moment when Cauchi stabbed his first victim, the room was unattended as she was on a toilet break. Security guard Faraz Tahir, the sole male victim of the stabbings, was working his first day on the job when he was killing trying to stop Cauchi, raising questions over the powers and protection given to personnel like him. His brother, Muzafar, told the inquest how Faraz died "with honour as a hero" and also acknowledged that Cauchi's parents had lost their son: "We know that this tragedy is not their fault." The contractor responsible for security at the shopping centre has since updated its training and policies, as well as introducing stab-proof vests for guards. Several families criticised media coverage in the wake of the attack, telling the inquiry they hoped the industry would reflect on how they should report sensitive stories so as not to further traumatise those affected. After weeks of evidence, the inquest was adjourned on Thursday with NSW state coroner Teresa O'Sullivan expected to deliver her recommendations by the end of the year. At the start of the inquest, O'Sullivan said the hearings weren't about who was to blame for the attacks, but rather to "identify potential opportunities for reform or improvement to enable such events to be avoided in the future". "I want the families to know their loved ones will not be lost in this process." Elizabeth Young, though, told the court, for her, "nothing good" will come from the inquest. "At 74, I have lost my way in life," she said, describing the crippling impact of the killings. But she said the action the country needed to take was already obvious to her. "My daughter was murdered by an unmedicated, chronic schizophrenic... who had in his possession knives designed for killing. "[This is] another cry out to an Australia that doesn't seem to want to acknowledge that what happened... is essentially the catastrophic consequence of years of neglect of, and within, our mental health systems."
The Advertiser
5 days ago
- Health
- The Advertiser
Tragic death of baby remains a mystery after inquest
How an apparently "thriving" three-month-old baby died remains unknown following an inquest. "It is tragic, but we simply don't know what happened to KP," NSW Deputy State Coroner Kasey Pearce said on Friday. The infant KP was found dead at his mother's home in Corowa in the NSW Riverina region in January 2022. The inquest revealed possible causes of death including drowning, suffocation and inadequate nutrition, Ms Pearce said. But there was insufficient evidence in support for any of these. She said the available evidence from the inquest did not allow her to find cause, place or manner of KP's death. Ms Pearce also rejected the account his mother gave police after KP's death, which included leaving her baby in the care of an unidentified man. "It is implausible and inconsistent," she said. "Unfortunately, the result is there is no evidence leading up to the death of KP." Ms Pearce said the Coroners Court knows nothing about KP's emerging personality, but the baby was loved by his family. "Until his premature death he seemed to be thriving," she said. The inquest examined the actions of those involved in the care of KP and his mother before his death. These included services from the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), Murrumbidgee Local Health District and Albury Wodonga Health. There were shortcomings in the actions of the organisations, but Ms Pearce said her findings did not suggest that KP's death could have been avoided. "On the contrary I was impressed with the care and professionalism of all who cared for KP," she said. ""It appeared to those who saw KP with his mother that KP was safe in her care." In the lead-up to his birth, DCJ completed a safety assessment where potential dangers were noted including his mother's mental health and drug abuse. But KP was deemed as "safe with a plan", provided the involvement of social workers, and the support of family and community services. In retrospect, Ms Pearce said there were signs of increasing risk for KP after his birth. His mother missed appointments including for a dietician and lactation consultant, and did not always answer the door to social workers. "Even on days when she was clearly aware they would be visiting," Ms Pearce said. In her recommendations, Ms Pearce said the NSW Health SAFE START program should formalise its administration and governance, including the clear allocation of roles and expectations. The program offers care and early intervention programs for pregnant women and their infants, and was responsible for providing services to KP and his mother. On January 12, 2022 a family member attended the granny flat where KP lived with his mother, and heard baby cooing sounds, Ms Pearce said. "It is the latest point in which we can establish that KP was alive," she said. How an apparently "thriving" three-month-old baby died remains unknown following an inquest. "It is tragic, but we simply don't know what happened to KP," NSW Deputy State Coroner Kasey Pearce said on Friday. The infant KP was found dead at his mother's home in Corowa in the NSW Riverina region in January 2022. The inquest revealed possible causes of death including drowning, suffocation and inadequate nutrition, Ms Pearce said. But there was insufficient evidence in support for any of these. She said the available evidence from the inquest did not allow her to find cause, place or manner of KP's death. Ms Pearce also rejected the account his mother gave police after KP's death, which included leaving her baby in the care of an unidentified man. "It is implausible and inconsistent," she said. "Unfortunately, the result is there is no evidence leading up to the death of KP." Ms Pearce said the Coroners Court knows nothing about KP's emerging personality, but the baby was loved by his family. "Until his premature death he seemed to be thriving," she said. The inquest examined the actions of those involved in the care of KP and his mother before his death. These included services from the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), Murrumbidgee Local Health District and Albury Wodonga Health. There were shortcomings in the actions of the organisations, but Ms Pearce said her findings did not suggest that KP's death could have been avoided. "On the contrary I was impressed with the care and professionalism of all who cared for KP," she said. ""It appeared to those who saw KP with his mother that KP was safe in her care." In the lead-up to his birth, DCJ completed a safety assessment where potential dangers were noted including his mother's mental health and drug abuse. But KP was deemed as "safe with a plan", provided the involvement of social workers, and the support of family and community services. In retrospect, Ms Pearce said there were signs of increasing risk for KP after his birth. His mother missed appointments including for a dietician and lactation consultant, and did not always answer the door to social workers. "Even on days when she was clearly aware they would be visiting," Ms Pearce said. In her recommendations, Ms Pearce said the NSW Health SAFE START program should formalise its administration and governance, including the clear allocation of roles and expectations. The program offers care and early intervention programs for pregnant women and their infants, and was responsible for providing services to KP and his mother. On January 12, 2022 a family member attended the granny flat where KP lived with his mother, and heard baby cooing sounds, Ms Pearce said. "It is the latest point in which we can establish that KP was alive," she said. How an apparently "thriving" three-month-old baby died remains unknown following an inquest. "It is tragic, but we simply don't know what happened to KP," NSW Deputy State Coroner Kasey Pearce said on Friday. The infant KP was found dead at his mother's home in Corowa in the NSW Riverina region in January 2022. The inquest revealed possible causes of death including drowning, suffocation and inadequate nutrition, Ms Pearce said. But there was insufficient evidence in support for any of these. She said the available evidence from the inquest did not allow her to find cause, place or manner of KP's death. Ms Pearce also rejected the account his mother gave police after KP's death, which included leaving her baby in the care of an unidentified man. "It is implausible and inconsistent," she said. "Unfortunately, the result is there is no evidence leading up to the death of KP." Ms Pearce said the Coroners Court knows nothing about KP's emerging personality, but the baby was loved by his family. "Until his premature death he seemed to be thriving," she said. The inquest examined the actions of those involved in the care of KP and his mother before his death. These included services from the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), Murrumbidgee Local Health District and Albury Wodonga Health. There were shortcomings in the actions of the organisations, but Ms Pearce said her findings did not suggest that KP's death could have been avoided. "On the contrary I was impressed with the care and professionalism of all who cared for KP," she said. ""It appeared to those who saw KP with his mother that KP was safe in her care." In the lead-up to his birth, DCJ completed a safety assessment where potential dangers were noted including his mother's mental health and drug abuse. But KP was deemed as "safe with a plan", provided the involvement of social workers, and the support of family and community services. In retrospect, Ms Pearce said there were signs of increasing risk for KP after his birth. His mother missed appointments including for a dietician and lactation consultant, and did not always answer the door to social workers. "Even on days when she was clearly aware they would be visiting," Ms Pearce said. In her recommendations, Ms Pearce said the NSW Health SAFE START program should formalise its administration and governance, including the clear allocation of roles and expectations. The program offers care and early intervention programs for pregnant women and their infants, and was responsible for providing services to KP and his mother. On January 12, 2022 a family member attended the granny flat where KP lived with his mother, and heard baby cooing sounds, Ms Pearce said. "It is the latest point in which we can establish that KP was alive," she said. How an apparently "thriving" three-month-old baby died remains unknown following an inquest. "It is tragic, but we simply don't know what happened to KP," NSW Deputy State Coroner Kasey Pearce said on Friday. The infant KP was found dead at his mother's home in Corowa in the NSW Riverina region in January 2022. The inquest revealed possible causes of death including drowning, suffocation and inadequate nutrition, Ms Pearce said. But there was insufficient evidence in support for any of these. She said the available evidence from the inquest did not allow her to find cause, place or manner of KP's death. Ms Pearce also rejected the account his mother gave police after KP's death, which included leaving her baby in the care of an unidentified man. "It is implausible and inconsistent," she said. "Unfortunately, the result is there is no evidence leading up to the death of KP." Ms Pearce said the Coroners Court knows nothing about KP's emerging personality, but the baby was loved by his family. "Until his premature death he seemed to be thriving," she said. The inquest examined the actions of those involved in the care of KP and his mother before his death. These included services from the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), Murrumbidgee Local Health District and Albury Wodonga Health. There were shortcomings in the actions of the organisations, but Ms Pearce said her findings did not suggest that KP's death could have been avoided. "On the contrary I was impressed with the care and professionalism of all who cared for KP," she said. ""It appeared to those who saw KP with his mother that KP was safe in her care." In the lead-up to his birth, DCJ completed a safety assessment where potential dangers were noted including his mother's mental health and drug abuse. But KP was deemed as "safe with a plan", provided the involvement of social workers, and the support of family and community services. In retrospect, Ms Pearce said there were signs of increasing risk for KP after his birth. His mother missed appointments including for a dietician and lactation consultant, and did not always answer the door to social workers. "Even on days when she was clearly aware they would be visiting," Ms Pearce said. In her recommendations, Ms Pearce said the NSW Health SAFE START program should formalise its administration and governance, including the clear allocation of roles and expectations. The program offers care and early intervention programs for pregnant women and their infants, and was responsible for providing services to KP and his mother. On January 12, 2022 a family member attended the granny flat where KP lived with his mother, and heard baby cooing sounds, Ms Pearce said. "It is the latest point in which we can establish that KP was alive," she said.
Perth Now
5 days ago
- Health
- Perth Now
Tragic death of baby remains a mystery after inquest
How an apparently "thriving" three-month-old baby died remains unknown following an inquest. "It is tragic, but we simply don't know what happened to KP," NSW Deputy State Coroner Kasey Pearce said on Friday. The infant KP was found dead at his mother's home in Corowa in the NSW Riverina region in January 2022. The inquest revealed possible causes of death including drowning, suffocation and inadequate nutrition, Ms Pearce said. But there was insufficient evidence in support for any of these. She said the available evidence from the inquest did not allow her to find cause, place or manner of KP's death. Ms Pearce also rejected the account his mother gave police after KP's death, which included leaving her baby in the care of an unidentified man. "It is implausible and inconsistent," she said. "Unfortunately, the result is there is no evidence leading up to the death of KP." Ms Pearce said the Coroners Court knows nothing about KP's emerging personality, but the baby was loved by his family. "Until his premature death he seemed to be thriving," she said. The inquest examined the actions of those involved in the care of KP and his mother before his death. These included services from the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), Murrumbidgee Local Health District and Albury Wodonga Health. There were shortcomings in the actions of the organisations, but Ms Pearce said her findings did not suggest that KP's death could have been avoided. "On the contrary I was impressed with the care and professionalism of all who cared for KP," she said. ""It appeared to those who saw KP with his mother that KP was safe in her care." In the lead-up to his birth, DCJ completed a safety assessment where potential dangers were noted including his mother's mental health and drug abuse. But KP was deemed as "safe with a plan", provided the involvement of social workers, and the support of family and community services. In retrospect, Ms Pearce said there were signs of increasing risk for KP after his birth. His mother missed appointments including for a dietician and lactation consultant, and did not always answer the door to social workers. "Even on days when she was clearly aware they would be visiting," Ms Pearce said. In her recommendations, Ms Pearce said the NSW Health SAFE START program should formalise its administration and governance, including the clear allocation of roles and expectations. The program offers care and early intervention programs for pregnant women and their infants, and was responsible for providing services to KP and his mother. On January 12, 2022 a family member attended the granny flat where KP lived with his mother, and heard baby cooing sounds, Ms Pearce said. "It is the latest point in which we can establish that KP was alive," she said.
