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Sydney baby died of blunt trauma injury
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| A baby who died of a "blunt trauma to the abdomen" was undernourished and had suffered various injuries before his death, a coroner has been told. Robbie Gillett had been taken to hospital a number of times for injuries including a ruptured testicle and fractured skull, caused when he fell onto a concrete path while in the care of a babysitter, said counsel assisting the Coroner Mark Higgins. In May 2006, Robbie suffered multiple bruises to his body and two months later he was taken to his GP "after a fall from the lounge". Mr Higgins said Robbie had a large egg-shaped lump on the front of his head. Twelve days later, he was put to bed just before midnight and the next morning his mother Rebecca Mann found him dead in his cot at their Claymore home, in Sydney's southwest. He was one year and three weeks old. A post mortem examination found he had suffered serious weight loss which had "compromised his health", Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon was told. The inquest heard a homicide investigation began and the boy's father, Steven Gillett, was arrested in March 2007 over Robbie's murder. He was committed to stand trial in the NSW Supreme Court but in September 2008 the DPP dropped its case against him. Mr Higgins said the inquest would run for about two weeks and will hear evidence from police witnesses, family and friends about drug use and domestic violence in the household. The inquest is continuing. |
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