New South Wales police found no evidence proving the existence of a man who a mother claimed was with her baby before it was found dead inside a freezer, an inquest has heard.
The deputy state coroner, Kasey Pearce, has been investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a three-month-old baby, identified only as “KP”, who was found by police in a home in Corowa, on the NSW-Victoria border, on 19 January 2022.
The inquest has previously heard that the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested the night police discovered KP’s body inside the granny flat in which they lived, and she was released without charge the following day.
She has not been charged or accused of being involved in the death, and the inquest heard that she told police she did not know how the child ended up in the freezer.
In a police interview, the mother said a man – whom she referred to as “Only” – had told her that he would look after KP in the days before the baby was found dead, the inquest in Albury heard on Monday. She said she had met “Only” several years earlier, and that he said he would return the child to her.
On Tuesday, Det Sen Const Matthew Kelly, the officer in charge of the investigation into the death, told the inquest that investigators attempted to track down the man.
Police asked the mother’s family and friends about the man and looked at her mobile phone records, including her contact list and call logs, Kelly told the inquest. He said investigators also attempted to identify the name, using parameters provided by the mother, via police databases.
“There was nothing to suggest to us that the person actually existed,” Kelly said.
The inquest heard investigators suspect KP died between 14 January and 17 January 2022. Kelly told the court that police found no activity on the mother’s phone between those dates, and there was no information that she left the property between 15 and 19 January.
Dr Andrew Ellis, a forensic psychiatrist, also appeared at the inquest on Tuesday, telling the court that the child’s mother experienced a personality or psychotic disorder “given the level of function”. But he said he could not conclude which one she experienced or if there was concurrent mental illnesses.
Ellis did not speak directly to the mother in preparing his report, but reviewed medical documents and witness statements, the inquest heard.
On Monday, the counsel assisting the coroner, Jake Harris, told the inquest that despite an extensive police investigation the circumstances of KP’s death were unknown.
He told the inquest that only the mother’s DNA was found on the handle of the freezer, where police found the body wrapped inside a blanket.
The inquest also heard that an autopsy report concluded the reason for the death could not be ascertained. The doctor who conducted the autopsy said it was impossible to determine whether KP was alive when the child was placed in the freezer.
The mother’s mental health had deteriorated from 2017, after two of her children from a previous relationship moved to live with their father, the court heard.
Over the course of the three-day inquest, Pearce will consider whether the Department of Communities and Justice conducted an adequate safety assessment, why a risk assessment was not performed and how information about risks were shared between stakeholders.
The inquest continues on Wednesday.
