A Perth court heard that a father failed to seek help for his baby daughter after she fell from a change room table.
News.com.au reports Paul James Cosgrove left his seven-month-old baby, Lily, on her own on the table while he went to throw out the nappy. He came back to find her on the floor with her eyes flickering.
They later fell asleep on the couch together, but when he woke up, he couldn’t wake Lily up.
He started to take her from a drive to her grandparents, and his wife Emma asked him to take Lily to the hospital. He ignored her pleas, and decided to go home instead.
Lily died soon afterwards in hospital from head injuries.
The court heard that this wasn’t the first time that day that the baby had been neglected. Prosecutors said that Cosgrove had fallen asleep with her earlier on the couch and she had fallen on the floor and when he woke up she was vomiting.
The defence mentioned that Cosgrove suffered from a major depressive disorder and had stopped taking his medication a few weeks ago, then started taking it again a couple of days before the incident.
“That gap may have impacted on his mental stability at the time,” Defence counsel Jeremy Morris said. “He was ill-equipped and immature to properly care for Lily.”
Mr Morris argued that Cosgrove had never mistreated Lily before and that he was showing remorse.
Paul James Cosgrove’s sentencing will take place on December 20.
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