Casshew
07-14-2004, 09:02 AM
FAMILY dog killed a teenager's baby after the girl gave birth in her backyard, an inquest heard today.
Despite suffering severe stomach pain for several days, the 14-year-old girl did not realise she was pregnant and did not know she was giving birth, the Victorian Coroner's Court heard.
The girl told police she felt the family dog pull something from between her legs as she lay in pain on the ground of her Ballarat backyard in the early hours of May 11 last year.
Detective Sergeant Stephen McIntyre said the Year 10 student said she was pinned beneath a shopping trolley full of car parts at the time, having knocked it over after going outside in distress.
The girl said she put an unidentified wet "item" in a disused fridge in the backyard when she cleaned up the car parts after freeing herself.
"(She) could not explain why she placed this one item into the fridge," Det Sgt McIntyre said.
"She maintains that she has no recollection of actually giving birth."
A search of the family home later that day found the body of the baby, posthumously named Caitlyn, in the fridge and a placenta wrapped in clothes in the girl's bedroom.
A post-mortem examination found the baby was born alive but died of about 25 injuries consistent with dog bites.
Det Sgt McIntyre said the girl's family and friends had no idea she had fallen pregnant after a month-long sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy the previous year.
"She was quite a large girl to start with," he said.
Along with her 11-year-old brother, the girl was left unsupervised three nights a week while their father drove trucks interstate.
Det Sgt McIntyre said the girl's father refused to take her to hospital in the hours before the birth, twice telling her to go to sleep after finding her rocking on the floor in pain.
Despite his son telling him there was "blood everywhere" in the bathroom and backyard, the father only took his daughter to hospital when she "rambled on" after cleaning up the mess, he said.
"I would suggest that (the father's) supervision is totally inadequate," Det Sgt McIntyre said. Anne Tudor, a clinical psychologist at Ballarat Health Services, said she did not believe the girl was responsible for Caitlyn's death.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10115969%255E1702,00.html
Despite suffering severe stomach pain for several days, the 14-year-old girl did not realise she was pregnant and did not know she was giving birth, the Victorian Coroner's Court heard.
The girl told police she felt the family dog pull something from between her legs as she lay in pain on the ground of her Ballarat backyard in the early hours of May 11 last year.
Detective Sergeant Stephen McIntyre said the Year 10 student said she was pinned beneath a shopping trolley full of car parts at the time, having knocked it over after going outside in distress.
The girl said she put an unidentified wet "item" in a disused fridge in the backyard when she cleaned up the car parts after freeing herself.
"(She) could not explain why she placed this one item into the fridge," Det Sgt McIntyre said.
"She maintains that she has no recollection of actually giving birth."
A search of the family home later that day found the body of the baby, posthumously named Caitlyn, in the fridge and a placenta wrapped in clothes in the girl's bedroom.
A post-mortem examination found the baby was born alive but died of about 25 injuries consistent with dog bites.
Det Sgt McIntyre said the girl's family and friends had no idea she had fallen pregnant after a month-long sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy the previous year.
"She was quite a large girl to start with," he said.
Along with her 11-year-old brother, the girl was left unsupervised three nights a week while their father drove trucks interstate.
Det Sgt McIntyre said the girl's father refused to take her to hospital in the hours before the birth, twice telling her to go to sleep after finding her rocking on the floor in pain.
Despite his son telling him there was "blood everywhere" in the bathroom and backyard, the father only took his daughter to hospital when she "rambled on" after cleaning up the mess, he said.
"I would suggest that (the father's) supervision is totally inadequate," Det Sgt McIntyre said. Anne Tudor, a clinical psychologist at Ballarat Health Services, said she did not believe the girl was responsible for Caitlyn's death.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10115969%255E1702,00.html