Father charged with daughter's murder 'planned to kill whole family'
Police are reportedly investigating whether a Queensland man, charged with the murder of his youngest daughter, also planned to kill the rest of his family.
The little girl's body was found by her mother in her bedroom at a home in Brisbane's north on Monday morning.
Police allege her 52-year-old father, who has also been charged with the attempted murder of his eight-year-old daughter, used gas to subdue his children in their shared bedroom.
He then allegedly killed his six-year-old, before trying to take the life of her sister.
The Courier Mail reports the girl's mother was woken by the noise and went into their room, but left after her husband told her he was comforting their daughter after a nightmare.
She then let her eldest daughter spend the rest of the night in her bed – potentially saving her life.
Police say the father fled the family's home but was later found on the Gold Coast and was taken to hospital, before being charged at Surfers Paradise police station.
He faced court on Tuesday but was remanded in custody.
Dad charged with murdering 6yo daughter and attempt murder 8yo daughter did not appear in court. Matter to go back to Bris @7NewsQueensland
— Lauren De Joux (@laurendejoux7) September 7, 2015
Tributes have poured in for the six-year-old following her death, with classmates visiting her Kedron home on Wednesday afternoon to pay tribute to their friend.
They left flowers, toys and hand drawn pictures outside her house.
The little girl's grieving Jiu-Jitsu coach Bruno Lemos also posted an emotional tribute on Facebook on Tuesday.
“I’m very sad to say, today we lost one of our precious Little Eagles,” he wrote.
“You will always be part of our Team and we will always remember you.”
The instructor told the Daily Mail the girl had attended class two times a week with her older sister.
“She was great. She had been training with us for over a year. She started as a white belt and moved up to the second class,” he said.
“I don’t even know what to say to the other kids….they are going to miss their training partner. It is just so hard, we are all so devastated.”
Acting Detective Superintendent Geoff Sheldon said the girl had no obvious signs of injury and investigators were working to determine how she died.
There's no immediate cause of death," he said outside the Sturt Street home.
"We're treating the whole death as very, very serious, as you would with any death of a child of such tender years."
The girl's distraught mother and eight-year-old sister have been speaking with police.
"As you could imagine they are just beside themselves with grief," Acting Det Supt Sheldon said.
There was no history of domestic violence or anything else to indicate welfare concerns, he said.
Investigators spent Monday scouring the family's home and a pathologist was among those to examine the scene.
The tragedy has shocked those in the otherwise quiet suburban street.
A woman who has lived in the street for 26 years said she heard sirens and police helicopters at 8.30am.
"It's very sad," she told reporters.
"I hope they get to the bottom of it."
Another neighbour said it was difficult to believe such a tragedy had unfolded in the suburb.
"It just doesn't happen in Kedron," he told AAP.
News break - September 8
