THE mother of a baby allegedly murdered by the father in a central Victorian town last year has given evidence in court describing her daughter’s final moments.
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Joby Anthony Rowe, 24, appeared at a committal hearing in the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Thursday charged with murdering his three-month-old daughter on August 29.
The mother gave emotional testimony to the court, describing coming home from work to find Rowe standing next to their unresponsive baby saying “wake up... wake up”.
“(She) was on the change table, Joby was standing in front of her,” the mother told the court.
“(She) looked really pale and was gasping for air, I picked her up and she was all limp and floppy.
“I move her into the light, put her face to my face, and she wasn’t breathing.”
She told the court the baby was bleeding from the nose when she picked her up.
Rowe wept as the court heard evidence from the mother and her parents. The baby’s grandmother was the first on the scene and tried to give CPR before a paramedic arrived.
Defence counsel James Fitzgerald questioned the family on their CPR techniques, while local paramedic Michael Holden spoke of the unresponsive baby.
“Bub’s eyes were closed,” Mr Holden said.
“They were inspected, the pupil response looked for, and response to daylight. If there was a response the pupils would shrink.
“There was no shrinkage.”
During his resuscitation attempts, Mr Holden noticed small amounts of blood in the baby’s airway.
Some time later, Air Ambulance paramedics arrived from Melbourne to transport the baby to the Royal Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
MICA flight paramedic Charles Sanders told the court how both parents were crying when he arrived at the house.
In his patient care report provided to police, Mr Sanders wrote of the series of events described to him by the two parents.
“Patient was being bottle fed, choked, coughed, father tried to clear airway, attempted to get baby to feed,” the statement read.
“Patient appears to be calm and quiet, father anxious, called partner… baby no flacid, not responding, the ambulance was called.”
In her police statement, the mother wrote of how Rowe had let her into the house after placing their daughter on the changing table with her bottle.
When he returned to the baby, “something was wrong with her”.
“Joby is so upset and he said to me that he feels everyone is blaming me for what happened to (her),” the mother wrote.
“He said, ‘It’s my fault, I gave her the bottle’.”
Specific details of police allegations against Rowe are expected to be heard in court on Friday.