Mum warned baby’s father, inquest told

THE mother of an 11-week old girl whose ribs were fractured and brain had been starved of oxygen before she died has told a coronial inquest she had warned the baby’s father he was putting her to sleep unsafely.

Charlotte Lukendlay died at the Royal Hobart Hospital on February 25, 2016 — four days after she was found unresponsive by her father, Gaurav Endlay, at their home in the Launceston suburb of Newnham.

The state’s forensic pathologist Donald Ritchie and Hobart paediatrician Michelle Williams gave evidence at the inquest in Launceston yesterday, saying Charlotte had fractures to her ribs and clavicle that were in various stages of healing.

They said Charlotte’s injuries were likely to have been inflicted on at least three occasions in the weeks leading up to her death.

Some of the rib fractures were likely to have been sustained within four days of her death, Dr Ritchie and Dr Williams said, and other injuries, including the fractured clavicle, were several weeks old.

A video of Charlotte’s mother, Rongrong “Angel” Lu, explaining how she usually wrapped the baby and how Mr Endlay had been doing so was played to the court. In it, Ms Lu said Mr Endlay had been tightly swaddling Charlotte and tying a knot with the wrap before putting her to sleep face down in the 10 days before she was found unresponsive.

“He always used this way to force my baby to sleep,” Ms Lu said in the video.

“Every day, I repeated the same thing, again and again — it’s not safe, she cannot breathe.”

Dr Williams said it was “a very distressing video to watch” and that to wrap a baby the way Ms Lu said Mr Endlay had done was “abusive”.

Dr Ritchie said Charlotte died after her heart stopped beating and the brain was starved of oxygen and nutrients.

The inquest heard it was unlikely the girl’s fractured ribs were caused by the CPR she received from two paramedics and a neighbour the day she was found unresponsive.

Dr Ritchie said the circumstances of Charlotte’s death were “highly suspicious” and that the trauma she sustained was “almost impossible to occur without intent”.

“It certainly was not, by any definition, a SIDS-type death,” Dr Ritchie said.

On Tuesday, the inquest heard Mr Endlay’s relationship with Ms Lu become increasingly violent and that threats had been made to Charlotte.

Assault charges against Mr Endlay from 2016 were later dropped.

Ms Lu’s sister-in-law, Fanny Chen, gave evidence with the help of an interpreter from Hong Kong, saying she flew to Tasmania just before Charlotte was born to help the couple learn to look after their baby but became worried about the way Mr Endlay treated her once she was born.

Ms Chen said Mr Endlay would “shout” at Charlotte and play “loud disco music” near her — allegations he denied.

The inquest, before Coroner Olivia McTaggart, is expected to conclude today.