“She had bruises on her body”

A four-week-old baby was allegedly found with bruises on her body the night she was murdered in her Gunalda home, near Gympie.

The baby girl’s father, Michael John Humphreys was committed to stand trial for the alleged murder and torture of Paige, who died from blunt force trauma on September 23, 2012.

According to The Brisbane Times, Paige’s mother Sarah Mooney told the Brisbane Magistrates Court she noticed bruises while bathing her daughter the night she died.

Under cross-examination, Ms Mooney agreed she called Humphreys and her mother, who lived with the couple, to come into the room.

“So obviously, in your mind at least, either of them may have known something about it?” defence barrister Mark Green asked.

Ms Mooney replied: “Well any of us three could have, we were the adults in care of her.”

The court heard it was not the first time Ms Mooney had noticed bruising on her baby.

Ms Mooney said about two weeks before Paige’s death, Humphreys had kept the baby home from a trip to a friend’s house due to marks on the infant’s body.

“Because she had the bruises Michael did not want me to take her to my mate’s house,” Ms Mooney said.

Ms Mooney said her mother Helen sometimes looked after Paige, but rarely picked her up because of Humphreys’ “overprotectiveness” towards the child.

After an 18-month investigation, the 28-year-old Humphreys was charged with her murder in February last year.

He stood charged with murder, failing to provide the necessaries for life, assault occasioning bodily harm and torture.

Wide Bay Burnett Detective Inspector Bruce McNab told The Gympie Times police quickly ruled out sudden infant death syndrome as the cause of the girl’s death during the lengthy investigation.

He said police would allege the death happened overnight in September, 2012, after the baby was put to bed in her cot.

Inspector McNab said that police would allege the girl was assaulted and received “extensive injuries”.

He also said the baby’s mother and grandmother were “distraught and distressed”.

“… as you would expect – to have a four-week-old child pass away is traumatic,” he said.