Murder trial for parents of 'starved' twins

PARENTS charged with the starving murder of their 18-month old twins almost five years ago will face trial in July.

The mother, 34, and the twins' 33-year-old father will stand trial on two counts each of murdering the toddlers, a boy and a girl, and for failing to provide them with the necessities of life on July 22.

Crown prosecutor Michael Byrne SC told a trial review in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday he expected the hearing to run for at least two weeks and possibly three.

He told Supreme Court Justice Peter Lyons he expected a psychiatric defence would be raised on behalf of the children's mother.

Mr Byrne said expert witnesses would be called to give evidence at the trial, including a general practitioner, pathologist, paediatrician and psychiatrists.

Barrister Soraya Ryan, on behalf of the toddler's mother, said she would seek a pre-trial direction relating to the Crown's particularisation of the murder charge levelled at her client.

Mr Byrne said he expected the half-day pre-trial hearing would examine how the Crown would particularise when the "intent" to murder was formed in the lead-up to the children's deaths.

It is alleged the twins were starved to death at the couple's home on Brisbane's southside between December, 2007 and 2008.

At a committal hearing in the Brisbane Magistrates Court in November, 2009, it was revealed the decomposed bodies of the toddlers were found on June 16, 2008.

A post-mortem examination found they died of malnutrition and weighed just 3.6kg and 4kg.

It heard the children lived at the small single-storey home with the couple and their three brothers and a sister - aged between three and 11 - at the time of their deaths.

The couple cannot be named under Queensland law to protect the identities of their children.

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NAPLAN tests - some good news for parents

     Source: Supplied

QUEENSLAND students are expected to do better on NAPLAN tests this year following the rollout of the national curriculum.

It's just 2½ weeks until Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students sit the controversial literacy and numeracy tests.

About 236,500 Queensland students are expected to sit this year's exams, which will test reading, writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar and numeracy skills over three days from May 14 to May 16.

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority Queensland board member Lesley Englert said average NAPLAN scores for Queensland students should rise given the introduction of the national curriculum, which was more demanding and consistent than the former state one.

TAKE THE SAMPLE TESTS

Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE) deputy director-general Lyn McKenzie has said teachers had reported students having higher levels of skill and knowledge when they started this year than previously in some subject areas as a result of the new curriculum.

Ms Englert said the Australian Curriculum was much more explicit and students should perform better overall in mean scores on NAPLAN as a result.

"Previously we had a curriculum that wasn't necessarily consistent across all year levels, across grades, across schools because there was too much optional focus on what the teacher wanted to teach," Ms Englert said.

"It is no longer up to the teachers what to teach, the teacher's job is now how to teach it better.

"It will definitely lift standards, comparatively it depends on how other states are doing too (on NAPLAN)."

DETE refused to answer questions about whether they expected the Australian Curriculum to impact on this year's NAPLAN results.

Instead, DETE assistant director-general Mark Campling said Queensland had shown one of the highest levels of significant improvements on the tests since 2008 and they expected this to continue.

Queensland Teachers' Union president Kevin Bates said "one would like to think that we have got a set of circumstances that will lead to better results" in Queensland.

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Parents in dark on childcare risk

MORE than 60 Victorian childcare centres are on a secret watch list over fears youngsters could be at risk - but parents are not allowed to know which ones.

A Herald Sun investigation has found two pre-schools, 40 long day care, 12 after-hours care, and 10 family day care services are subject to extra monitoring over quality concerns.

Officials are also probing at least 11 "high priority" incidents that occurred at childcare centres in recent months.

Education Department officials say the law stops them from naming centres under investigation or subject to extra monitoring.

The Herald Sun used Freedom of Information laws to extract some details of almost 3000 incidents reported at childcare centres in the past 12 months.

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Cases include a girl injured by a TV cabinet falling on her head and two toddlers roaming unsupervised beside a major road.

There were also reports of a child witnessing a sexual assault in a disabled toilet, two unsupervised children raiding a fridge and swallowing antibiotics, and an infant falling off a change table.

There were multiple instances of children being fed food or drink to which they were allergic.

Mistreatment by staff prompted inquiries. A student carer was said to have pinched one youngster; another staffer was reported for grabbing a child by the hair.

Children discovered two syringes in a sandpit, and a hot-water system short-circuit spewed toxic smoke into a playroom, also prompting investigations.

The department has not launched prosecutions over any of the 2952 incidents logged since last March.

Despite promises of a crackdown on rogue childcare operators under national laws taking effect in January last year, just four have been punished.

The system covers more than 3700 Victorian education and care services, attended by about 400,000 children.
 

Education Department spokesman Liam Carter said regulators were acting in the best interests of children.

"Where accidents or incidents occur, the vast majority of services take direct and immediate action to rectify the problem. This includes contacting parents straight away," he said.

"We have a robust regulatory regime with the capacity to swiftly investigate incidents and take action when necessary. Services are subject to regular assessment and rating visits to ensure ... standards are upheld."

When the national laws were introduced, parents were promised details of childcare quality ratings checks would be online.

The Herald Sun understands formal assessment results for early childhood services have been delayed until at least May, because laws have not been proclaimed in some jurisdictions.

Checks of the MyChild website found it made no mention of enforcement actions against several Victorian operators, leaving parents in the dark.

The controversial new national quality control standards require centres to hire more and better-qualified staff.

Parents have complained some centres have increased fees to cover costs of the reforms, and operators have warned many centres, especially in remote or regional areas, can't find enough staff to meet the standards.

Childcare Minister Kate Ellis said parents will learn which centres are failing once legislation is passed.

"Once state governments pass the legislation in the next few months, it will be public information," Ms Ellis told Channel 9 today.

"Each centre's ratings, their assessment, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are will be on display in each and every childcare across Australia."

fiona.hudson@news.com.au

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Parents cry foul at sports selection

PARENTS and coaches who have locked horns over junior sports team selections are flooding the complaints inbox of the government-backed Play by the Rules project.

As the sporting season kicks off and Queensland clubs and schools complete trials and post team selections, the chief of the "fair play" national initiative confirms that he has been flooded with gripes from unhappy parents and coaches across all the sporting codes.

"Every parent thinks they have a star in the making and some lose sight of the fact that it is about positive participation and not all about winning or being in the A team," said Paul Oliver, who runs the Play by the Rules website supported by the Australian Sports Commission.

"Dealing with angry parents at the start of the new season is a growing problem. Some parents can have too high expectations."

The initiative works to prevent and deal with discrimination, harassment and child safety issues in sport.

"While many clubs have strict parent guidelines there are also young coaches at schools or clubs not equipped to deal with pressure from parents," Mr Oliver said.

The principal of Brisbane's Moreton Bay Boys' College and Moreton Bay College believes parents need to step back and be realistic about their children's sporting abilities as schools start posting team lists on noticeboards.

"It's typical at this time of the year for schools to come under pressure from parents who are not happy about their child missing out on the A-team or not making a team at all," principal Jennifer Haynes said.

"Usually the children are very realistic about their own sporting abilities and can be embarrassed when parents become too involved, so it's not a positive experience for anyone."

Mr Oliver believes that all clubs and schools should set hard and fast rules for parents to try to keep "negativity" at bay. The Play by the Rules website offers advice on how to make a valid complaint without causing unnecessary club or team rifts.

"The majority of the complaints we receive are about what parents perceive as unfair team selections but there is also a lot of feedback of children not getting enough game time or coaches being too rigid with rules or too aggressive. But coaches who feel pressured by pushy parents also seek out help," said Mr Oliver.

Football Queensland chief operations officer Ben Mannion believes the education of parents at clubs from day one is vital for keeping conflict at bay.

"I run the elite soccer program and managing parents is a big part of the job," he said.

"Parents of children that show some potential can be harder to handle but we have strict guidelines and we enforce them.

"Our research shows that children work better when parents are not present."

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