Confronting photos have emerged of a filthy drug den where two baby girls lived in the care of their ice-addict mother and grandmother before their deaths.
A bong made from a Gatorade bottle, a homemade ice-pipe, huge piles of dirty clothing, a broken cot and a putrid kitchen can be seen in the images.
An inquest is examining the deaths of the two Aboriginal half-sisters, known as BLGN and DG, who lived in the family home in Riverstone, western Sydney.
The ice-dealing grandmother, shootings at the home and a child burnt with a ‘crack pipe’ are among the horrors child protection workers ignored, the coroner was told.
Confronting photos have emerged of a filthy drug den where two baby girls lived in the care of their ice-addict mother and grandmother before their deaths (pictured is the home)
A bong made from a Gatorade bottle, a homemade ice-pipe, huge piles of dirty clothing, a broken cot and a putrid kitchen can be seen in the images (pictured is the home)
An inquest is examining the deaths of the two Aboriginal half-sisters, known as BLGN and DG, inside the family home in Riverstone, in Sydney’s west (pictured is the home)
The ice-dealing grandmother, shootings at the home and a child burnt with a ‘crack pipe’ are among the horrors child protection workers ignored, the coroner was told (pictured are the mother and grandmother outside court)
BLGN and DG were three months and 19 days old respectively when they died in 2014 and 2015.
Documents from the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) reveal 24 reports were made about the home,The Daily Telegraph reported.
Photos show the shocking level of squalor in the home, which was mentioned in some of the reports, beginning in 2010 when the mother’s son KD was one-year-old.
The first report dates back to 2010, when a caller to the FACS helpline warned about floors strewn with rubbish, dirty nappies and ‘crack pipes’.
Soiled clothes littered on the floor next to a broken cot tipped over onto its side can be seen in one of the photographs.
The internal report reveals the New South Wales child welfare department failed to remove the children.
They were not removed despite tragic accounts of entrenched family drug use, neglect, homelessness and violence spanning generations.
The review, ordered after BLGN’s death, found FACS received four ‘risk of significant harm’ reports for BLGN during her short life, and 13 for her two older siblings.
BLGN and DG were three months and 19 days old respectively when they died inside the drug house in 2014 and 2015 (pictured is the home)
Documents from the Department of Family and Community Services show 24 reports were made about the home (pictured is the home)
Despite the dangers escalating over several years, FACS did not intervene, and BLGN’s case was dropped altogether due to ‘competing priorities’.
The inquest heard FACS executive Kate Alexander attempted to block the release of the report.
She said it would ‘adversely affect the openness and honesty staff bring to reviews’ and ‘affect the morale and wellbeing of frontline staff’.
The documents tendered to Glebe Coroners Court show her young ice-addict mother, known as AC, had a troubled upbringing and attempted suicide by jumping onto railway lines as a teenager.
‘There were reports about [AC] being sexually assaulted by a group of males, using drugs and about her involvement in criminal activity,’ the report said.
During 2010 her one-year-old son, KD, had allegedly been found chewing on a pouch of ‘drugs and broken cigarettes’ in the family home from where the grandmother allegedly dealt ice.
The internal report reveals the New South Wales child welfare department failed to remove the children (pictured is BLGN, who died aged just three-months-old)
They were not removed despite tragic accounts of entrenched family drug use, neglect, homelessness and violence spanning generations (pictured is DG who died aged just 19-days-old)
In January 2011 there was a shooting at the ‘known drug house’ where AC struggled with two men over a gun on her front lawn and a fired shot hit a neighbour’s home.
A Mission Australia worker reported the house was filthy, with no food and rubbish everywhere, but by 2013 the mother was living out of her car with her two toddler boys.
The month BLGN was born in January 2014, her mother did a stint in jail, court documents show.
By February an anonymous caller told a FACS helpline the mother was smoking ice in front of her children and that her five-year-old boy KD had burned himself on a ‘crack pipe’.
The review found KD may have had a learning disability, and both the mother and grandmother could often be heard screaming at him and calling him names.
The review acknowledged the department’s repeatedly inadequate responses but blamed the dysfunctional family’s transience and understaffing.
‘Managing competing priorities within the context of finite resources is one of the most enduring challenges in child protection work,’ the report said.
Photographs show the shocking level of squalor in the home, which was mentioned in some of the reports (pictured is the home)
The first report dates back to 2010, when a caller to the FACS helpline warned about floors strewn with rubbish, dirty nappies and ‘crack pipes’ (pictured are the mother and grandmother outside court)
The father of BLGN, who is in jail, said his former partner suffered a crippling ice addiction which could keep her awake for 10 days straight while her kids were ‘running amok’.
‘I’ve probably seen her smoke more times than I’ve seen her go to the toilet,’ he told Glebe Coroners Court on Tuesday.
The dad admitted he was high on ice three days before BLGN’s death when he went to the mum’s unit with two other men, who smoked the drug in front of her two older children.
The trio then left the house but the father said he later returned to the unit and stayed with his baby ‘until the sun came up’.
‘I was laying down and she was resting on top of my heart and I sang to her ‘You Are My Sunshine’,’ he said.
‘That’s the last time I saw my daughter alive.’
A Mission Australia worker reported the house was filthy, with no food and rubbish everywhere, but by 2013 the mother was living out of her car with her two toddler boys (pictured are the mother and grandmother outside court)
Police found an ice pipe on top of a baby steriliser at the house the day BLGN was discovered unmoving in her cot, which was crowded with toys, blankets, an adult-sized pillow and two baby bottles, the court has previously heard.
An ex-lover of a drug dealer also gave evidence, alleging she had been told he came to the home the night before the tragedy and smothered the wailing baby.
‘Obviously being an ice user it totally erased from my memory until the police turned up on my door,’ the witness said.
Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame asked ‘is that really your evidence?’ before the court heard their relationship had turned sour after the dealer learned she had terminated their unborn baby while he was in jail.
The allegations are denied by the dealer and the person who allegedly told the woman the story, and relatives in the courtroom hissed ‘liar’ as she testified.
The maternal grandmother also gave evidence, saying she saw bruises on the baby’s dead body, which she believed was ‘rigamortis’.
The ice addict denied ever smoking methamphetamine in front of her three grandchildren or being high when emergency services arrived at the scene.
Around six months after BLGN’s death, the mother was pregnant again and high on ice when she was taken to hospital after a serious high-speed car accident, the court heard.
DG, who the court heard had a heart abnormality, was taken into out-of-home care but died within three weeks of being born.
Police found an ice pipe on top of a baby steriliser at the house the day BLGN was discovered unmoving in her cot, which was crowded with toys, blankets, an adult-sized pillow and two baby bottles, the court has previously heard (pictured are the mother and grandmother outside court)