For a life lived for just three short months, there are endless questions about KP.
Most importantly, what happened in the days before the lifeless baby’s body was discovered in a freezer in a home in a small town on the New South Wales-Victorian border?
A three-day coronial investigation this week in Albury – about a 45-minute drive from the Corowa home where the baby’s body was found – searched for answers about the death of the infant, who legally must be referred to as “KP”.
The baby had not been seen for days when the child’s worried grandfather phoned triple-zero on a Wednesday evening in January 2022, the inquest heard.
About 10.10pm on 19 January, two police officers arrived at the granny flat where KP and the mother lived, on the property shared with her parents, for a welfare check.
The baby was with a friend in Albury, the mother told the officers through the door, the inquest heard. She could not provide further details, she said.
Upon forced entry – supported by KP’s grandfather – they found the mother alone, sitting on the bed, with the TV on.
“The room was quite cluttered and dark,” Jake Harris, the counsel assisting the coroner, said on Monday.
An empty pram was in front of the fridge. When the senior constable opened the freezer, the inquest heard, he screamed in shock when he realised a blanket on the top shelf was wrapped around KP.
It is the task of the NSW deputy state coroner Kasey Pearce to determine the cause and circumstances of KP’s death – including the time and place – in addition to recommendations to prevent similar cases.
The inquest, Harris said, was not an occasion to lay blame and, despite an extensive police investigation, the circumstances surrounding KP’s death are unknown.
No one has been charged.
The man nicknamed ‘Only’
The inquest heard that an autopsy had concluded the cause of KP’s death could not be ascertained. There was blood around the baby’s nostril but no injuries were found on the body.
On 15 January, four days before the body was found, the baby’s uncle noticed a blow-up pool in the back yard, the inquest heard. The pool, which was normally full, was empty. He saw a dirty nappy and baby’s bottle next to the pool.
Dr Bernard I’Ons, who conducted the autopsy on the body, said the possibility of drowning and suffocation could not be ruled in or out based on his examination.
Dr Susan Marks, a forensic paediatrician at Westmead children’s hospital, told the inquest that while the cause of death couldn’t be determined, “I do think something has happened.”
The mother was initially arrested on the night the body was found, then released without charge. She has not been accused of any involvement in the death.
She provided police with an account of the days before KP’s body was found but Harris told the inquest there are reasons to doubt its reliability.
When interviewed by investigators in the early hours of 20 January, the inquest heard, the mother said she had left the baby with a man whose nickname was “Only”, whom she had known for several years. While shopping in Corowa with KP she said Only had picked the pair up in his car before travelling to Albury. She could not say how she had returned home but said KP was not with her.
In a further interview in May 2022, she said Only had offered to look after KP and return him.
Det Sen Const Matthew Kelly, the officer in charge of the investigation into the death, told the inquest on Tuesday that investigators had attempted to track down the man.
Police asked the mother’s family and friends about him and looked at her mobile phone records, including her contact list and call logs, Kelly said. Investigators also attempted to identify the name, using parameters provided by the mother, via police databases.
He said the mother could not provide a phone number or address for Only. “There was nothing to suggest to us that the person actually existed,” Kelly said.
On Wednesday Harris told the coroner the account of Only was “inherently implausible”.
Dr Andrew Ellis, a forensic psychiatrist told the inquest that the reference to “Only” may be a delusion or “other things”.
The mystery of the mother
While Ellis did not speak directly to the mother in preparing his report, he reviewed medical documents and witness statements, the inquest heard. The mother had either a psychotic or personality disorder “given the level of function”.
The inquest was told her mental health had deteriorated from 2017, when two of her children from a previous relationship had gone to live with their father. Ellis said medical records indicated at a minimum she had experienced a substance-induced psychotic disorder in 2017 and there was evidence this may have persisted for years after.
The mother, who the inquest heard had smoked cannabis throughout her pregnancy with KP, was referred to a NSW Health-run “Safe Start” program for families at risk of adverse outcomes in the perinatal period. A report to the NSW Department of Communities and Justice had also been made in the days after KP’s birth when cannabis was detected in the baby’s urine samples.
KP weighed just 1.42kg when born, with a congenital defect, and spent the first five weeks of life in a special care nursery in hospital, the inquest heard.
After discharge, child and family health nurses visited the pair at home.
Bernice Nardino, a child and family health nurse, told the inquest she did not have concerns about the baby’s care during her multiple home visits to see the mother and KP. Nardino said that when the mother missed appointments, she was satisfied with the reasons given and, on her last visit on 4 January, she recalled that the mother – who held KP “beautifully” as they slept – was “pleased” to see her.
“It was a very successful home visit,” she told the inquest.
Their next appointment, scheduled for 17 January, never went ahead, the inquest heard. The mother did not answer the nurse’s knocks on the door or respond to calls or texts.
The inquest was told that one of KP’s siblings could recall visiting the granny flat to drop off nappies or cat food on the evening of 12 January. While they did not see the baby, the sibling remembered hearing cooing noises.
Investigators suspect KP died between 14 January and 17 January 2022, the inquest heard.
Kelly told the court that police had found no activity on the mother’s phone between those dates, and there was no information that she had left the property between 15 and 19 January.
In the final moments of the inquest’s hearing on Wednesday, Harris said members of KP’s family, who were in the room, wanted to make it known that KP was loved.
Pearce will hand down her findings next year.
