Babysitter charged in Vic child death
A 28-year-old Melbourne woman has been charged with manslaughter after the death of a baby who she had been babysitting.
Homicide squad detectives announced the charge on Tuesday morning, more than 15 months after Chloe Murphy died in hospital in December 2010.
The 10-month-old had been left at the babysitter's home in Kensington in the city's inner west on a Friday night.
When the parents, from nearby Maidstone, returned, the baby was distraught and had to be taken to hospital.
She underwent emergency surgery for a head injury but was taken off life support two days later.
The babysitter is expected to face the Melbourne Magistrates Court later on Tuesday.
Homicide squad detectives announced the charge on Tuesday morning, more than 15 months after Chloe Murphy died in hospital in December 2010.
The 10-month-old had been left at the babysitter's home in Kensington in the city's inner west on a Friday night.
When the parents, from nearby Maidstone, returned, the baby was distraught and had to be taken to hospital.
She underwent emergency surgery for a head injury but was taken off life support two days later.
The babysitter is expected to face the Melbourne Magistrates Court later on Tuesday.
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Babysitter Ketapat Jenkins, 28, has been charged with manslaughter more than 15 months after baby Chloe Murphy died from head injuries in hospital.
Chloe was dropped off at Jenkins' Kensington home, in Melbourne's inner west, by her parents Anthony and Phurithee Murphy just before 7.30pm on December 3, 2010, Detective Senior Constable Justin Tippett told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
"She was fine, she was well, alert and responsive," he said.
When the couple returned to collect their daughter three-and-a-half hours later, Chloe was "non-responsive and appeared completely limp", and her father described her breathing as "really laboured", according to documents tendered to the court.
The couple drove their daughter to the nearby Royal Children's Hospital where she had emergency brain surgery before being placed on life support.
She died two days later.
Det Sen Const Tippett said an autopsy revealed Chloe died from a head injury.
She had three fractures to her left arm, a fractured skull and retinal haemorrhages, in a pattern strongly suggestive of shaking as the cause, he said.
The pattern of her injuries indicated that "assault caused by shaking and impact is almost certainly the cause of these injuries," said Det Sen Const Tippett.
"The medical evidence in combination with other evidence gathered indicates that the injuries to Chloe Murphy occurred whilst she was in the care of Ketapat Jenkins," he said.
Magistrate Ian von Einem granted Jenkins bail on the condition she surrender her passport, report to police regularly and post a $20,000 surety.
The matter was adjourned for a committal mention on May 15.