Anthony and Phurithee Murphy were only going to a movie.
They wouldn’t be long. It was a long overdue night out, the new parents usually preferring to stay in with their 10-month-old daughter.
So, when a few hours later, they picked their daughter, Chloe up from the home of babysitter Ketapat Jenkins in Kensington, Melbourne, they were shocked with what they found.
Their 10-month-old, who they say had been in good spirits when they left her, limp and unresponsive.
Ketapat Jenkins, herself a mother of two young boys, answered the door to the Murphys at 11pm that night in December 2010 with their baby in her arms. Her first words to them:“ Why didn’t you tell me she had asthma?”
Chloe was fighting for every breath but she didn’t have asthma.
What she had was trauma – trauma that would be established to be have been so violent it was similar to a car accident.
The new parents saw saliva or some sort of fluid coming from their baby’s lips, desperately they squeezed her foot and spoke to her but there was no response.
The baby was rushed to the Royal Children’s hospital, an unusual colour, not breathing and with a weak pulse.
Doctors at the hospital said they believed that “Chloe’s catastrophic head injury had been caused within the previous 12 hours.”
Top Comments
Why isn't Australia more outraged by this? This woman got away with murder - the murder of a helpless baby - and no one seems to give a damn. This is an utter injustice. Where is the outrage?! Yes, she was aquitted, but being 'aquitted' in the legal sense is not synonymous with 'not guilty'. The child suffered injuries that could not have been accidental while under the care of the babysitter. This much is known.
To all the mothers who will 'tut tut' and list the things that the parents SHOULD HAVE done: consider for a moment if this was your child, and the legal system had failed YOUR family.
They were all protesting out the front of a hospital for a little refugee baby......this poor little mite hasn't even been given a thought......very sad.....
I have always thought it was the parents. People are not outraged because it is not clear who did it. "Probably 9pm or 10pm" does not equal definitely.
One is private. We don't know about it. Nor about every baby or child being abused or molested right now. (Every night before going to sleep I think of them.)The other is public and being done in our name by our government. It doesn't take Einstein to spot the difference!
Exactly. Jessica apparently knows more than the Judge with years of experience and study and the jury who for weeks had to see all the evidence, witness statements, Police statements, Coroners statements and testimony from the those involved.
Yet still, on a hunch and without knowing all the evidence you maintain it was a murder. Right.
The Coroner is there to provide information on what caused the injuries to the child in the first place, not who caused the injuries.
As it stands, I can see that it may have been the babysitter and it may have been the parents, I have no way of knowing so I'm going to leave it to the Judge and jury. It's another of those my word against your word situations.