The stepmother of a four-year-old girl allegedly left to die in her cot has been charged with murder.
Willow Dunn’s body was found malnourished and decomposing in her bed at her home in Brisbane last Monday, with rats having eaten a part of her face.
Her father, Mark James Dunn, 43, was charged with murder after he allegedly discovered the toddler’s lifeless body and failed to inform emergency services.
Dunn’s partner Shannon White, 43, was arrested on Wednesday and later charged with murder at Morningside police station.
White was led away from the station in handcuffs looking worse for wear and wearing thongs and shabby clothes.
Both White and Dunn are charged with murder under its “reckless indifference of human life” definition.
White allegedly told police last week that caring for Willow, who had Down syndrome was not her responsibility as she was not her biological daughter.
Even though, in 2014 she took to Facebook to write “I would do anything for my kids”.
For the past year, the toddler is said to have been in the care of her father, who allegedly left her to fend for her own.
Dunn allegedly left the helpless young girl lying in her bed, starving to death, long enough for her to have infected sores on her hips down to the bone.
Police confirmed the toddler died of malnourishment and sustained neglect after a post-mortem.
Detective Inspector Chris Knight would not rule out charging more people and said police were investigating the entire family in Queensland, NSW, and South Australia.
“Despite today’s second arrest in this homicide, detectives are continuing to progress this investigation,” he said.
Willow’s mother Naomi Dunn passed away on November 5, 2015, from complications following Willow’s birth.
