The mother of twin toddlers who were found dead in their bedroom told police that they may have starved to death, an Australian court heard yesterday.
The decaying bodies of the 18-month-old boy and girl were found by a sibling, who smelled something unusual in their suburban home in Brisbane, the court was told.
Their 28-year-old father and 30-year-old mother appeared on charges of failing to provide necessities of life after police discovered the deaths on Monday evening, the AAP news agency reported.
Police found the bodies in a “state of decay,” and the children appeared to have been malnourished, prosecutor Michelle Clarke said.
The mother allegedly told police she noticed the twins were dead on either June 8 or June 9, adding that she had been suffering from a cold and rarely fed or changed them.
When asked by police how they died, the mother allegedly said: “I don’t think I fed them enough.”
One weighed 4kg and the other even less.
The father told police he did not know they were dead until Monday, although he had walked past their room several times since their death a week earlier, the court heard.
The couple’s other four children reportedly said they had rarely seen the twins, who had been kept in the front room of the house for most of their lives.
The prosecutor said that when the corpses were found by an 11-year-old sibling, the child went to the mother and said: “I know why you have been crying now.”
The court heard the parents were undergoing “significant relationship problems” and the man failed to support the children.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Tina Green told the court it was likely the charges would be upgraded once post mortem results were obtained.
“It’s most likely they are heading towards manslaughter or murder charges,” she said.
Magistrate Noel Nunan remanded the couple in custody until tomorrow to await the outcome of a post mortem examination.
“The circumstance of the death of two young 18-month-old children is bizarre, given that both the parents had been in the house for approximately one week since their death,” Nunan said.
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