JUST days ago Tanilla Warwick-Deaves was a smiling little girl who loved pushing toy prams and dressing up as a princess.
Today an autopsy is expected to be carried out in Newcastle as police try to piece together how the two-year-old died from unknown injuries.
Police were called to the little girl’s home at Watanobbi on the NSW Central Coast at about 4am on Saturday where they found her with “a number of injuries”. She was rushed to Wyong Hospital but died a short time later.
Police interviewed her mother Donna Deaves, 27, and her mother’s partner, Warren Ross, 28. The couple have not been charged.
Fairfax websites report that Tanilla’s uncle had warned the Department of Community Services over fears for the girl’s safety.
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Nathan Deaves said that he was told to “mind my business”.
“I had a case worker ring me and tell me to mind my business about this situation,” he told Channel Nine. “A child’s dead and, at the end of the day, that should never have happened.”
He said in another interview: “How could it fall through the system and end up with something like this happening? We will live with this for the rest of our lives.”
The tragedy has shocked nearby residents with a few yesterday leaving teddy bears and flowers outside the family’s Stonehaven Ave home.
“I used to see them playing outside all the time,” one neighbour said. “They looked like nice happy kids.”
Police yesterday continued searching the housing commission home for any clue that could help determine how Tanilla was injured.
A pile of bric-a-brac Tanilla’s family left out for a council collection was examined.
Mr Deaves told The Daily Telegraph that Tanilla “was always happy and smiling. She loved her sisters and loved to dress up in princess outfits. She called me ‘uncle Na Na’, that was her nickname for me.”
Mr Deaves, who lives with his wife and young son across the road from his sister, said their entire family were devastated.
His pentecostal church, C3 Tuggerah, yesterday prayed for the youngster and held a short tribute for her during its morning service.
Mr Ross’ grandmother said Mr Ross loved Tanilla and her two older sisters “like they were his own”.
“I don’t know what’s happened,” she said.
“Maybe she climbed up on something and fell and hit her head on the way down, who knows?”
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