'Sad and tragic': Baby Anastasia's mother faces court over death
In a case that a Perth magistrate has described as 'sad and tragic', baby Anastasia Hand's 18-year-old mother has faced court over the death.
Baby Anastasia Hand was just four months old when she died.
While her cause of death is undetermined, doctors who treated her say she suffered a "catastrophic brain injury" - an injury that was not an accident.
Just before they said their final goodbyes, Anastasia Hand's parents had her christened.
They were there when doctors turned off the machines that were keeping her alive.
"With Ana there was just an instant connection when I first met her," the baby's grandfather said.
"Her eyes were knowing, she peered into your soul."
Overnight police charged her teenage mother, Cassandra Doohan, with aggravated grevious bodily harm.
Prosecutors told the Perth Magistrates Court the baby's father gave her a bottle of milk and put her back in her cot, in the same room as her mother in their Capel home.
He says she appeared "milk drunk" but was happy and making "cooing" noises.
When he came back after a shower 15 minutes later, she was unresponsive.
Injuries including swelling and bleeding on the brain and "abnormalities to lower limb bones which were suggestive of abuse".
Ana's grandfather said his son was "not doing well at all, he's totally devastated really, he's lost his whole family now."
Cassandra Doohan's application for bail was denied.
The court heard the charge against her could be upgraded once police get the results of tests on little Anastasia's brain, which won't be until September.
