A mum jailed for leaving her baby daughters to die in a hot car left one of the children alone with a minor after she was born, telling off a nurse after she was confronted over the act.
Details of Kerri-Ann Conley’s disturbing drug use and comments were revealed by witnesses on the first day of an inquest into the 2019 deaths of her daughters Darcey-Helen and Chloe-Ann.
Both girls died after being left by their mother in a hot car outside her Waterford West home south of Brisbane on November 23 that year.
Conley 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, 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 her father Peter 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.
On other occasions she revealed Conley had been involved in car accidents while Darcey-Helen was in the car – one involving Conley mounting a traffic island after leaving a Hungry Jack’s carpark.
The court was told Child Safety had intervened after Mr Jackson raised concerns, something Ms Jackson said infuriated Conley.
“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.
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.