Call for action on baby BJay

Commissioner’s appeal

AUTHORITIES are being urged to act quickly on a coroner’s report into the death of baby BJay Johnstone and his treatment under the watch of the state’s child protection system.

Coroner Olivia McTaggart this week handed down findings into the death of 45-dayold BJay, and her report was critical of the Child Protection Service.

Ms McTaggart found baby BJay died from severe head trauma inflicted by his father Simon Adam Johnstone in 2012.

One expert described the injuries as one of the worst cases of child abuse he had seen.

Police are reviewing the findings but would not say whether they are considering re-charging Johnstone, of Railton, who had served time for ill treatment of his son but not for the fatal injuries.

The coroner found BJay would not have died if child services had acted in accordance with the law and protected the baby.

Ms McTaggart made 13 recommendations regarding child services, which she said failed to appreciate the risk posed to BJay despite receiving multiple notifications of concern about the baby.

Children’s Commissioner Mark Morrissey said the recommendations needed to be “carefully considered” and responded to.

“Whilst we can never with certainty prevent tragic events such as this, the inquiry into the death of BJay presents us with some very clear findings and recommendations that can lessen the chances of such deaths occurring in future,” he said.

“By learning from the death of this baby and robustly and promptly responding, we have an opportunity to reduce the likelihood of such a recurrence in the future.

“I offer my heartfelt condolences to all affected by the death of this baby.”

The Health and Human Services Department said it was considering the recommendations and was in the process of redesigning the child protection system.

“We always strive to do things better. We always need to learn from situations where things go wrong,” department secretary Michael Pervan said.

“In this case, we need to learn from a tragic outcome, and therefore, I welcome the coroner’s report.”