Plea for care after twins are found dead

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-19  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

AUSTRALIANS have been urged to recover a sense of care and community after the apparent death from starvation of two 18-month-old twins that has shocked the nation.

The decomposing and emaciated bodies of the boy and girl were found in their cots by their 11-year-old sister in the family's suburban home of Brisbane. The pair had been dead for up to a week.

Their 28-year-old father and 30-year-old mother were detained and charged with failing to provide the necessities of life after their mother told police she may have neglected the twins and not fed them enough.

"It is a very important thing to realize that we should be looking after the next door neighbor's kids, or the kids down the street, and keeping an eye on them," Abused Child Trust co-founder and Chairman David Wood said.

"That's what would have happened years ago. It's hard to comprehend that that can occur in our society, in a reasonably normal Brisbane suburb," Wood said.

Both twins, named in media as Lily and Zaide, weighed around 4kgs when they died, around the weight of a normal newborn baby.

Since the discovery on Monday, the deaths have received prominent newspaper coverage and have dominated television and radio reports.

A post-mortem examination is to be carried out and charges could be upgraded to manslaughter or murder.

The sister who found the two twins after noticing a strong smell coming from their room turned to her mother and said: "I know why you've been crying now," newspapers said.