Man charged with rape and manslaughter of five-month-old baby
Warning: distressing content
A man has today been charged with manslaughter and sexual intercourse without consent following the death of a five-month-old baby.
The child died in Alice Springs, a remote town in Australia’s Northern Territory, in July 2012.
The baby suffered 26 bruises, haemorrhages to both eyes and anal injuries; blood and semen were found in his nappy.
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The person who had been looking after the baby at the time said he had caught the child when he fell from a change table.
However, a forensic expert said at the inquest in 2016 that this wouldn’t have caused the baby’s fatal head injuries.
The child’s mother, who can’t be named for legal reasons, said that after six years she had lost faith in an arrest being made.
She told ABC News: “I was shocked, it wasn’t expected. I’d started to, I guess, lose hope.”
She added that she felt “shock, joy, relief” that she “wasn’t going around in circles for no reason.
“[I’m] hoping that the truth actually comes out, that’s what I want to happen next.”