The father of a three-year-old girl who was found dead with a gunshot wound to her neck in a west Sydney home has been charged with a number of firearm offences.
A 43-year-old Arncliffe man was charged on Monday with possession of an unauthorised prohibited firearm, possession of an unregistered and prohibited firearm, not keeping the firearm safely and two counts of breaching an AVO, according to police.
At around 8pm on Sunday, paramedics were called to a property in Lalor Park, near Blacktown, where they discovered the young girl’s body.
Just moments after a man inside the house was heard screaming ‘she’s dead… she’s shot herself,’ according to The Daily Telegraph.
During a press conference on Monday, detectives refused to say if the little girl had accidentally shot herself but pressed the importance of firearm safety.
The father of a three-year-old girl who was found dead with a gunshot wound to her neck in a west Sydney home (pictured) has been charged with a number of firearm offences
The young girl’s body was seen being removed from the home around 8am on Monday
Police were called to a property in Lalor Park, near Blacktown, where they discovered the child’s body at around 8pm on Sunday. Forensic officers were seen at the Danny Road home on Monday morning
Pictured is a distressed woman being placed into an ambulance on Sunday night after the shooting. Reports suggest the woman is the girl’s mother
Danny Road has been blocked off by police and was still closed early on Monday morning
A destraught man (pictured) was helped to his feet by police, before he was placed in the back of a van. Police told Daily Mail Australia there was no one in custody over the death
Detectives and forensic analysts were seen combing through evidence at cordoned off home on Monday morning. The three-year-old’s body was removed from the home around 8am.
Officers confirmed the three-year-old, her mother and three brothers, aged between three and eight, were inside the house at the time of the shooting, according to 7News.
Neighbours reported seeing the girl’s siblings frantically run from the home while screaming for help.
The girl’s father and uncle were also reportedly in the area at the time but not at the home, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The three-year-old’s father has been refused bail.
Video captured on Sunday night shows two distraught men – believed to be the girl’s father and uncle – sitting in a gutter with their heads in their hands shortly after authorities arrived at the scene.
One of the men was later helped to his feet by police, who patted him down before placing him in the back of a van.
A distressed woman, who reports suggest is the child’s mother, was seen sitting the back of an ambulance.
‘I hate you, I hate you,’ the woman inside the van could be heard shouting to an unknown person as the door opened.
‘I hate you, he killed my baby girl… rot in hell,’ she later screamed.
It is believed the three-year-old was at home with her mother and three brothers, aged between three and eight, at the time of the shooting
Clothes can be seen hanging on the line in the backyard (pictured)
A children’s toy car is pictured under the clothesline
Next door neighbour Mark Tupua told The Daily Telegraph he ran outside to see what was going on when he saw the three-year-old’s father crying in the street.
Mr Tupua said he tried to open the front door of the family’s home but it was locked.
About ten minutes later the child’s hysterical mother emerged, he said.
‘She was just screaming. I seen (sic) another guy leave the house with blood on his hands. She was saying it was his fault… that he should not have had a gun in the house,’ the young man said.
Mr Tupua told 9News the mother was angry at the bloodied man and told him police ‘could take the kids away from [her] because of what he’s done.’
A neighbour (not pictured) said he helped take three other children from the home where the girl died into another property
A distraught man is pictured holding his head in his hands at the scene on Sunday night
Police reportedly responded to a report of a domestic at an address they had been called to last year after reports of gunshot sounds and yelling
A member of the forensic team places an evidence marker on the ground
A neighbour said he helped escort three other children from the home where the girl was shot.
‘We saw there was chaos and we thought one of the neighbours was in trouble and we went out to help,’ he told the paper.
‘Our neighbour took all the children into her house… there were three of them, the oldest would have been around eight.
‘Then the mum came into the house and it was chaotic and all of that. She was just rambling, she was hysterical.’
The distraught man who was seen sitting in a gutter at the scene is pictured being placed in a police van
A woman can be seen being escorted to an ambulance by police
Police are said to be investigating whether the girl’s gunshot wound may have been self-inflicted.
Emergency services are believed to have arrived at the Danny Road home in response to a report of a domestic.
They had been called to the same address in September last year after reports of gunshot sounds and yelling, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
A crime scene was established and detectives spoke with the girl’s family.
Police told Daily Mail Australia there was no one in custody over the death.
A man claiming to be a family member of the young girl is pictured at the scene on Sunday