2 baby emergency cases of sexual abuse & drug use link to 30-year-old Melbourne man with criminal record

Staff of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Victoria failed to see the red flag of sexual abuse when a 22-month-old baby boy was rushed to the medical centre’s emergency department thrice for treatment. For his fourth trip to the ER, the baby died the next day after suffering cardiac arrest.

The Age reports that the hospital’s emergency room staff, including the forensic medical team and social worker, treated the baby but failed to alert Victorian Child Protection. His last trip to the ER was in February 2015, when the tot allegedly choked and had a heart attack.

The baby was under the care of his mother’s boyfriend because the mum was sick. However, leaked documents from the Department of Health and Human Services say the same man involved in the 22-month-old baby was linked with the ER trip of another three-year-old boy in the same hospital on April 26.

This time, the older child was disoriented and drowsy when his mum rushed him to the hospital. Tests results show the tot was positive for methamphetamine. The mother believes her boyfriend, with whom she has been trying to split, gave her child illegal drugs. Fortunately, the boy recovered fully after a few days in the hospital.

The man involved has criminal records with Victorian police, particularly for allegedly violating a family violence intervention order several times. However, he was not charged or detained by Victorian Police. The compulsory reporting of child abuse cases, which the hospital failed to follow, was triggered in 1990 by the killing of two-year-old Daniel Valerio by his stepfather.

Child abuse cases appear to be on the rise in Australia. On Monday, a 28-year-old woman went on a trip to Bali, Indonesia, with her husband, but they couple left two children alone in their home in Perth. The woman, the kids’ stepmother, blames the incident to the post office which lost the passports of the two children.

Perth authorities found the children – 4 and 6 years old - alone. The woman said she needed to go to Indonesia to renew her visa, but because the children’s passports were lost, she could not travel with them outside Australia. “If you want to leave the country to go overseas you have to have your passport, that’s common sense,” she explained to an interpreter.

VIDEO: Two children left home alone by their mum when she went to Bali