Baby girl dies in Queensland Children’s hospital, as locals say they had contacted authorities about homeless family of first girl

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A day after a baby girl was found dead on a Queensland beach, a four-month-old girl has died in suspicious circumstances.

Police said a woman, 35, and a man, 37, were assisting with inquiries into the death on Tuesday of a four-month-old infant from the Logan district.

The baby was taken to Queensland Children’s hospital on Monday morning with life-threatening injuries and died there on Tuesday.

On Monday a nine-month-old was found dead on a Gold Coast beach. On Tuesday residents said they had tried to get help for the baby months earlier.

At least two locals said they had contacted police and other authorities about the family, who had been sleeping rough near the beach with her parents.

The girl’s parents – a man, 48, and woman, 23 – are in custody but have not been charged.

Parents of baby girl found dead on Surfers Paradise beach 'are homeless' Read more

Erin Sorensen wrote on Facebook that she went to police two months ago to share her concerns about the baby, as well as about a toddler who was also sleeping rough with the couple.

Queensland police could not immediately confirm that the couple had a second child with them and the state’s child safety authority has refused to comment, citing privacy reasons.

But unnamed sources have told the Courier-Mail that child safety officers were allegedly aware of the family’s circumstances.

Another resident wrote to the Gold Coast city council on 18 May, expressing fears for the baby and toddler, who they said were sleeping on a wooden platform in a beachside park with their parents.

At night, the resident told the Gold Coast Bulletin, the infant could be heard crying.

Council staff wrote back after five days, apologising for the late reply and telling the resident to raise the matter with other authorities as it was not the council’s responsibility.

Police launch murder investigation after baby girl found dead on Gold Coast beach Read more

Detectives are trying to determine if the baby might already have been dead before she was found by a passerby at the water’s edge on a Surfers Paradise beach on Monday. It is believed she had been in the water at some point.

Meanwhile, New South Wales police are looking at the couple’s movements in the Tweed Heads area, on the border with Queensland, where they were also known to have been sleeping rough.

Queensland police expected to receive the results of an autopsy on the baby on Tuesday.