The father of a girl who died in a hot car warned child services “to no avail” that their mother was regularly taking illegal hard drugs, an inquest has heard.
Darcey-Helen Conley, 2, and Chloe-Ann, 18 months, died on November 23, 2019, at Waterford West, south of Brisbane, after the car they were in reached an estimated temperature of 61.5 degrees.
Their mother, Kerri-Ann Conley, had left them in the car outside her home since 4am after returning from a drive to a friend’s place and using the drug methamphetamine.
Conley pleaded guilty in February 2023 to two counts of manslaughter and was sentenced to nine years’ jail to be eligible for parole in November 2024.
An inquest in Brisbane today heard from Darcey’s father Peter Jackson, who testified that he called the Queensland Department of Child Safety four to six times in the two weeks before the girls died.
“My concern (was) about the drug use around Darcey and Chloe. I also informed them of the (meth pipe and small clip seal bags) I found just walking through the house, the utter pigsty the house was in… to no avail. Nobody seemed to be listening,” Jackson said.
The inquest will examine the appropriateness of the response by the Department of Child Safety and adequacy of its policies and procedures before the girls’ deaths.
The inquest heard the department also received a notification concerning Darcey’s welfare after Jackson brought her to hospital because he suspected she had been exposed to meth.
A doctor told the department on November 3, 2019 that Darcey did not have signs of intoxication based on a general examination without a blood or urine test.
The doctor also recorded Jackson’s concerns at the time.
“Mr Jackson reported seeing pipes and needles in the house. The father has been advised Ms Conley is using methamphetamine in the house regularly,” the doctor stated.
Jackson said one of the first calls he made was about a text message he received from Conley in late October 2019.
“I got Chloe in the car. Woke up at 2am. Left Chloe in the car. Oops,” Conley’s message stated.
Jackson said he responded like anyone else would to such a message.
“I responded to the effect of ‘what the f—?’ I was a little taken aback,” Jackson said.
He said he had seen Conley attempt to flush drug traces from her system and she told him she had bought synthetic urine in an attempt to test negative.
The department’s barrister Timothy Ryan asked Jackson if he was mistaken about making calls to Child Safety between June and November 2019, including calls mentioning Conley leaving Chloe in the car and claims she was dealing in drugs.
Ryan said the department did not have records of him making those calls.
Jackson said he made the calls anonymously but he did use his own mobile phone.
