News

Mother charged after baby girl’s body found on Gold Coast

Dec 14, 2018

The baby was found unresponsive on Surfers Paradise beach on November 19. Source: Twitter/7 News Sydney.

The mother of a nine-month-old baby girl whose body was found washed up on a Gold Coast beach last month has been charged by police and will face court in NSW on Friday.

The baby was found unresponsive on Surfers Paradise beach on November 19. It is alleged the baby died in New South Wales, before her body washed up at Surfers Paradise beach.

NSW Police announced that a 23-year-old woman was arrested by detectives from Queensland Police Service’s Child Protection and Investigation Unit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, at about 2pm on Thursday. She was then extradited to NSW where she was charged.

“The woman appeared at Southport Magistrates Court, where Strike force Paula investigators applied for and were granted her extradition to NSW,” police said in a statement.

She was escorted by police to Tweed Heads Police Station, where she was charged with “fail to provide for child cause danger of death”. The woman was refused bail and is due to appear at Byron Bay Local Court on Friday.

It comes after the girl’s homeless 47-year-old father was charged with murder late last month.

Police and paramedics were called to Staghorn Avenue, the Esplanade, last month to attend to a young girl who was unresponsive on Surfers Paradise beach.

Emergency Services officers conducted CPR at the scene, however, they were unable to save the baby girl and she was declared deceased at the scene. The parents of the baby, the 48-year-old male and his 23-year-old partner, were reportedly homeless and living in parks near Surfers Paradise.

Surfers Paradise is one of the Gold Coast’s most popular tourist spots and is often teeming with late-night revellers during the summer.

The tragic incident occurred during one of the Gold Coast’s busiest weeks of the year, with thousands of school leavers descending upon its sands for Schoolies Week.