A mum who left her kids to die in a hot car sent a chilling text to the father of one of the girls, telling him she had left her in the car “all night” after falling asleep on the couch.
Kerri-Ann Conley’s alleged text was sent years before her baby daughters Darcey Helen and Chloe-Ann Conley would die of hyperthermia outside her Waterford West home in 2019 as an inquest into their deaths continues in Brisbane.
Details of Conley’s disturbing drug use and comments were revealed by witnesses on the first day, including the concerns her former partner held for the girls’ safety.
Darcey-Helen and Chloe-Ann died after being left by their mother in a hot car outside her Waterford West home south of Brisbane on November 23 that year.
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READ NOWConley is serving a nine-year jail term for their manslaughters but will be eligible for parole later this year.
The inquest is examining events leading up to the girls’ deaths as well as the responses from Child Safety, Metro South Health and the Queensland Police Service (QPS).
Conley’s drug use, including her heavy use of methylamphetamine and whether it put the girls at risk, will be placed under the microscope.
On Monday, Deanne Power gave evidence that she lost her cool over Conley because she “wasn’t doing anything around the house” while she was living with her.
It also caused a rift with her son Peter Jackson, Darcey-Helen’s biological father.
Ms Power said her son and Conley were not living together by Christmas 2017 but she described their relationship as “good”.
Ms Power said Mr Jackson went to Child Safety over concerns of Conley’s behaviour, reading to a Child Safety call-taker a text that he had received from Conley.
The court was told the text used words to the effect of: “I fell asleep on the lounge oops I left Chloe in the car all night.”
Ms Power said she didn’t know about Chloe-Ann’s birth until Conley walked into their home with “another baby” in 2018.
Ms Power said Darcey-Helen’s father wanted his child away from Conley’s care.
On one occasion the little girl was hospitalised, with Ms Power telling the court that she found Darcey-Helen “banging her head” on a wall and trying to climb it while at Conley’s house.
“I said to (Peter), ‘She must have drugs in her system’,” Ms Power said.
Former childcare educator Sandra Cowan spoke of her interactions with Conley while she was looking after Darcey at her childcare centre.
She told the court she was informed by a parent who had a child at her centre that Conley “wasn’t coping” with her two children.
Ms Cowan said Conley eventually arranged for Darcey-Helen to attend the centre twice a week for about six hours a day.
“The first couple of weeks she was very good about it all,” Ms Cowan said.
“Then it started going downhill.
“I used to send her texts asking if she was coming. Darcey was hardly ever part of the beginning of the program…there were times I would meet Darcey at the car because Kerri-Ann was in a hurry.”
Ms Cowan said she gave Conley the benefit of the doubt, attempting to be flexible when she was late dropping Darcey off at the centre, or picking her up as late as 5.30pm.
She said Conley often gave “flippant” excuses for why she was late, such as she and the girls were “asleep”.The court was told she also didn’t provide Darcey with supplies, like food or nappies, when dropped off at daycare.
Ms Cowan said Darcey “always looked tired” and didn’t appear to have much energy during her last few months of daycare.
On other occasions the child was “looking for food” and Ms Cowan had to bathe her.
“Darcey was starting to show those signs where she looked unkempt…she was starting to get nappy rashes,” Ms Cowan said.
“I’d give her a bath just to make sure she felt loved.”
Ms Cowan said Conley was able to pay for Darcey’s attendance but began to fall behind.
The situation eventually culminated in Ms Cowan setting up a system to alert Conley when it was time to pick up Darcey.
Darcey-Helen’s great aunt Deborah Jackson gave evidence of her interactions with Conley – describing her at first as a “very quiet girl” when she was first introduced.
Brisbane Coroner’s Court was told Conley was “upset” at learning that she was pregnant with Darcey-Helen, even threatening to “dump” the baby on Mr Jackson’s doorstep.
Despite this, Ms Jackson said Conley loved her daughter.
Ms Jackson said Darcey-Helen was left alone with Mr Jackson’s 13-year-old daughter multiple times, including after her birth while Conley went outside the hospital for a cigarette.
When confronted by a nurse about leaving the baby with a minor, Ms Jackson said Conley replied: “It’s my baby, I’ll do whatever I want.”
She gave evidence that Mr Jackson did not approve of Conley’s drug use, at one point discovering a glass pipe and marijuana under her car seat.
The court was told Conley had been involved in car accidents while Darcey-Helen was in the car – one involving her ending up in a ditch after going around a bend on the M1 Motorway.
On another occasion, she mounted a traffic island after leaving a Hungry Jack’s carpark.
Ms Jackson said Conley was angry that Child Safety officers got involved with her family, describing a confrontation she had with Mr Jackson at their home.
“Kerri wanted to know who dobbed her into Child Safety,” Ms Jackson said.
She said Conley then “flung” the young girl into Mr Jackson and stormed off.
Ms Jackson gave evidence that Conley eventually moved into her own unit in Kingston while she had shared custody of the child.
“It was like a bomb was let off inside,” Ms Jackson told the court.
“It was dirty, never clean, there were dishes everywhere and she had way too much furniture.”
Other witnesses, including Mr Jackson, are due to give evidence throughout the five-day inquest.
Tamra Jackson, Mr Jackson’s cousin, also gave evidence that she suspected Conley was using drugs while looking after Darcey-Helen.
She said at times Conley would not answer her phone, leave her house and not return for days.
In her evidence, Tamra told the court that Mr Jackson found drug paraphernalia in the glovebox of his car.
She explained Conley constantly used the excuse that she was “holding it for a friend”.
“She (Conley) never came off it,” Tamara said.
In her evidence, Tamra said Conley had admitted to “buying urine” to give clean drug test samples and her drug use was known to Child Safety staff.
One text, allegedly sent by from a support worker to Tamra urged Conley to “stay off that s**t if you can”.
“They clearly knew she was using,” Tamra said.
During Conley’s sentencing last year, Brisbane Supreme Court was told both children died of hyperthermia as a result of being left in the hot car.
Conley had returned from a friend’s house with the girls about 4am that morning and parked the car outside her Waterford West home.
She did not remove her children from their car seats and went inside, dawdling on her phone and falling asleep.
Temperatures climbed as high as 61.5Cs that day until Conley removed them some nine hours later.
Conley threw a small plastic bag containing drug residue into the bin before phoning Mr Jackson and triple-0.
The inquest, before State Coroner Terry Ryan, continues.