Father held over attack on baby girls
James Madden | February 12, 2008
The Australian
FOUR-MONTH-OLD twin girls are clinging to life following a savage attack allegedly carried out by their father during a temporary access visit at the weekend.
The girls, who were allegedly "shaken, struck or thrown" so severely that they were left with fractured skulls, underwent surgery in Sydney's Westmead hospital yesterday.
Last night, the babies remained in critical condition.
Their 23-year-old father faced court yesterday in Orange, in central NSW, charged with two counts each of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm andassault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The man, from the northwestern Sydney suburb of Ermington, is alleged to have inflicted the injuries on his daughters at his Sydney home on Sunday before driving almost four hours to Orange to return the girls to their mother, from whom he separated about a month ago.
The babies had been in the custody of their father since last Thursday, when he picked them up from his former de facto wife to allow her to attend her cousin's 21st birthday party.
The NSW Department of Community Services said last night the family was known to them, although no incidents involving the four-month-old twins or their father had been reported to the agency.
The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was yesterday denied bail on the grounds of the seriousness of the charges and because he was deemed a flight risk.
The man did not enter a plea. He will remain in custody until his next appearance, at Parramatta Local Court in Sydney next Monday.