The babysitter accused of violently shaking 10-month-old baby Chloe Murphy causing her death has today been ordered to stand trial.
Jenkins, who pleaded not guilty, was released on bail to appear for a directions hearing in the Supreme Court next month.Magistrate Peter Mealy found the babysitter, Ketapat Jenkins, had a case to answer on a charge of manslaughter.
Chloe was unconscious and completely limp when her parents, Tony and Phuritee, picked her up from Jenkins' home just after 11pm on December 3, 2010, after going out for dinner and a movie.
Chloe died in the Royal Children's Hospital two days later. The cause of death was a head injury and three fractures were found in the baby's left arm.
Jenkins, 28, of Kensington, is charged with Chloe's manslaughter.
Defence barrister Robert Richter, QC, clashed with Chloe's mother on Tuesday, accusing her of having done something to the baby and blaming the babysitter.
Mrs Murphy denied the claim.
In her statement to police, Mrs Murphy, from Maidstone, said when she and Tony went to pick up Chloe, Jenkins opened the door and asked her in Thai "why didn't you know that your baby had asthma"?
"Gift (Jenkins' nickname) seemed in a normal mood. She didn't seem upset or anything," Mrs Murphy said.
"I told her that Chloe did not have asthma."
When Jenkins handed Chloe to Tony, the baby was unconscious so the couple took her straight to hospital.
Mrs Murphy said she later rang Gift from the hospital and told her Chloe had stopped breathing.
"She (Gift) told me that it was only five minutes before we got to her house that Chloe had started to have trouble breathing.
"The nurse wanted to know what Chloe had been given so I tried asking Gift if she had given her anything like honey, small toy, biscuits.
"Gift told me, 'No, no,no' and that she had done nothing.
"I started yelling at Gift so the nurse took the phone from me and spoke to her."
As Chloe was laying in the emergency room, Mrs Murphy said she and her husband "told her we loved her and we were waiting for her".
Detective Leading Senior Constable Justin Tippett said Gift had always denied harming Chloe and that listening devices installed in her home and her husband's car had not recorded any admissions.
Constable Tippett said there were, however, inconsistencies in Gift's account of what happened on the night.
Royal Children's Hospital ophthalmologist James Elder said it was most likely Chloe had been extremely vigorously shaken and possibly dropped or thrown against something else with force to cause a skull fracture.Forensic paediatrician Dr Maryanne Lobbs told the court today she believed Chloe had been shaken and suffered "abusive head trauma".
It was unlikely Chloe had had a minor fall.
Dr Elder said he was aware a group of medical professionals who believed "shaken baby syndrome" was false but he disagreed with them. There was ample evidence to prove the condition did exist, he said.
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