Twins 'dead a week'

Christine Kellett

June 17, 2008 - 3:50PM

The parents of 18-month-old twins, found dead last night, could be charged with murder as soon as Thursday, a Brisbane court heard today.

The decaying bodies of the boy and girl - who had been dead at least a week and each weighed four kilograms or less - were found in their home in Sunnybank Hills, in Brisbane's south, about 7pm (AEST) yesterday.

Their parents faced Brisbane Magistrates Court today charged with failing to provide the necessities of life.

However, prosecutors this afternoon took the unusual step of asking for the couple to be remanded in custody for a further 48 hours, pending the results of a post-mortem examination.

While results are yet to be finalised, the likely cause of the twins' death was malnutrition.

The court heard the twins' mother, 30, had told police she was aware the babies were dead from about June 8 or 9.

They were found by an 11-year-old sibling yesterday after other children noticed an odour coming from a front bedroom.

After making the gruesome discovery, the court heard the 11-year-old child told the mother, "I know why you've been crying now."

The children later told police they had rarely seen the twins since they were born.

Police prosecutor Tina Green said the parents were "most likely ... heading towards either manslaughter or murder charges".

The court heard that the mother, who cannot be named, admitted she only fed the twins with a bottle and changed them only occasionally.

"I don't think I fed them enough," she said in a police statement read to the court.

Prosecutors said both children's bodies were decaying when found and appeared malnourished.

The mother, who appeared overweight and wearing a brown prison tracksuit with her hair tied back, kept her eyes downcast throughout the briefing.

The toddlers' father, 28, also appeared in court wearing handcuffs.

Defence lawyer Michael Cridland, acting for the children's father, said the man had little or no contact with the twins in the six months before their deaths, arguing the chance of securing a murder conviction against him was remote.

However, Sergeant Green said the man lived under the same roof as the toddlers and had to walk past the bedroom where they were kept to reach his own.

He also drove the couple's four other children to school on his way to work as a project manager on a major Brisbane road project.

Mr Cridland also said his client had only yesterday afternoon been made aware of the twins' deaths, shortly before police removed their bodies from the house.

However, the magistrate, Noel Nunan, granted police permission to hold the pair, describing the circumstances surrounding the alleged crime as "bizarre".

"I think it would be wise to wait for the outcome of the post-mortem examination," Mr Nunan said.

The mother is undergoing a psychiatric assessments, while the father has refused a psychiatric assessment.

AAP reports: A neighbour of the parents said older children from the family often came over looking for food.

It is understood three older siblings have been taken away by child safety workers to another residence.

Neighbour Nyakong Maying said she had lived in the same street as the family for five years and sometimes gave food to the children in the family.

'I'm hungry'

"The youngest boy [four years old] comes over here and says 'I need something to eat, I'm hungry,' " Ms Maying said.

"When they came here about four months ago I give them some snacks or fruit with my children but after that I stopped it."

Ms Maying, who came to Australia from Sudan, said she never saw the parents.

"I never see the mother or the father also, I just see the kids because they come around my house," she said.

Another neighbour, Fiona Ma said she had noticed a boy aged three or four who was allowed to run around the neighbourhood unsupervised.

"I feel confused because [the] parents are not attending to him," Ms Ma said today. "He's so young and he just runs in the street."

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