Crown Prosecutor Richard Coates said doctors at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) uncovered a "massive 1.5 litres of pus" in the child's leg, caused by a fracture to her left thigh.
Sisters Toni Melville, 43, and Denise Reynolds, 42, have been charged with the manslaughter of the girl, who first started to limp following a school sports day.
Three weeks later, on July 12 last year, she died from a blood and bone infection.
Mr Coates said osteomyelitis was a condition common in children that doctors would have had "no difficulty diagnosing".
"With medical treatment she could have made a full recovery," he said on the first day of a Northern Territory Supreme Court trial in Darwin.
"Even if medical treatment had been sought on the last day ... when her heart stopped beating, she would have still had a fighting chance of survival."
Mr Coates said Reynolds was a "stubborn" woman who insisted the child had sustained a sports injury which would improve with exercise.
When the girl refused, Reynolds would "smack her leg with a stick".
"(The child) was unable to stand unassisted and when she was forced to she would just fall to the ground," Mr Coates said during opening submissions.
"When assistance was not forthcoming to help her to the toilet she would urinate and defecate in her clothes where she lay."
Mr Coates said social workers who visited the three-bedroom Palmerston home - which housed 17 people - the day before the death found the child lying on the kitchen floor crying. (The child was found in a CRITICAL situation, but the government failed to act.)
When she was told to have a shower she struggled to walk and had to use the walls for support.
Mr Coates said the jury would also hear evidence that, hours before her death, the girl was "punished" for soiling her clothes and taken out to the backyard.
"The children were told they were not allowed to help her get food or drink," he said.
"You will hear evidence from children who were out playing in the yard that later in the day (the girl) began to talk about fairies and witches and she said a limousine was coming to pick her up ...
"(The girl) said yeh, I can see the light now, and she just stopped breathing."
Melville told police she called Triple 0 but Mr Coates said records showed the first call she made was to her sister.
The child was pronounced dead at RDH later that evening.
Mr Coates said the jury might find both women were "genuinely distressed" by the death, but the standard of care they offered her had "grievously fallen short" of what would be expected of a reasonable person.
The trial before Justice Trevor Riley continues.
aap 28 Jul 2008
One of the largest problems that society faces, is that some people are just not fit to have children, irrespective of whether it is your right as a human to breed.
Not one government can genuinely state that it has YOUR children's BEST interest. This can be clearly supported by the laws that it provides.
The most tragic part of this story is that the government inspected the circumstances, and FAILED to act, resulting in a death of a child.
At the end of the day NO ONE cares about YOUR children.
The following court case will be nothing more than a charade, taking away ANY responsibility from the supervising authorities.
The government creates laws that support the break up of the family unit, as a result many sectors reaping the rewards.
This is one of the sadest stories i have read. What is wrong with people to let this happen to children. Heartless and curel.
ReplyDelete