Police are investigating the circumstance around a fire in Woodstock in which an eight-month-old baby died.
It is believed the infant was left alone in the shack with a burning candle.
City’s Fire and Rescue Services spokesman, Theo Layne, says firefighters were called to an informal settlement in Pine Road shortly after 1am where they found a shack on fire with the infant inside.
“There were two fire engines, one water tanker and one rescue vehicle dispatched to the fire and it was extinguished by 2.28am. A baby girl died in the fire and there were no other injuries,” says Layne.
At this stage the cause of the fire is unknown.
The Daily Voice visited the baby’s mother on Wednesday, but she declined to give her or her child’s names, or reveal any details of what had happened.
“I don’t want my child’s name in the paper,” was all she would say.
IN SHOCK: A neighbour comforts the grieving mother
Police were on the scene and the mother had two open wounds on her forehead. It is not clear how she had injured herself.
According to a neighbour, who asked not to be named, the mother is a drug addict who left the child alone in the shack with a burning candle.
“I heard the screaming just after 1am and went to see what was going on. I thought it was a fight, but then I saw the big flames and the whole [dwelling] was on fire,” says the neighbour.
“She was standing outside shouting that her child is inside. We all know she is a druggie and she leaves the baby alone. We believe the candle in the [shack] fell over and started the fire.”
Men in Pine Road tried to extinguish the blaze and save the baby, but the flames were too hot and they could not get close.
“We are all sad and I still saw the baby [on Tuesday] with a woman who looks after the child.”
“The one neighbour has a generator that makes a loud sound so nobody even heard the baby crying [when the fire broke out].”
Police spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel André Traut, says an inquest docket has been opened for investigation.
However, he did not say if the mother had been charged with child neglect.