Father charged with murder of his daughter after assault 15 years ago in Western Australia

Police have charged a West Australian man with murder over the 2005 assault of his then-two-year-old daughter, who died in hospital last year.

A West Australian man has been charged with the murder of his daughter over a serious assault he inflicted on her when she was a toddler.

Police say Carnarvon man Terrence John Bice, 40, seriously assaulted Teagan Jade Ferguson in 2005 when she was aged two.

The assault caused Teagan to sustain a traumatic brain injury and develop chronic health conditions that “directly impacted on her quality of life”.

She had been in palliative care since 2015 and died at Perth Children’s Hospital in June last year, aged 18.

‘It will be alleged that the injuries received during the assault eventually led to her death,’ WA Police said on Wednesday.

Bice has been charged with murder and faced Carnarvon Magistrates Court on Tuesday. He will next face Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court on January 19.

Bice pleaded guilty in 2005 to grievous bodily harm over the attack.

The WA District Court heard Bice lifted Teagan up and threw her violently to the floor of their home in the northern Perth suburb of Wanneroo after being unable to stop her from crying.

The toddler cracked her skull and was knocked unconscious.

Bice was sentenced to a five-year jail term with a three-year non-parole period.