Nikki Francis-Coslovich's (2) body was found in the roof cavity of her mother's house

[luvit]

'Fingerprints around a manhole' led to the discovery of two-year-old's body in the roof cavity of her mother's house - as police say they are close to 'taking action' after reviewing her autopsy

-Nikki Francis-Coslovich was found dead in the roof of her Mildura home
-She was initially reported missing on Tuesday afternoon at around 3pm
-Police responded and launched a desperate search to find the toddler
-Her body was found concealed in a roof cavity during a search of the home
-Police are yet to rule out domestic violence as a possible cause of death
-Homicide detectives are treating the incident as 'suspicious'
-An autopsy has been completed but no charges have been laid

Homicide detectives are preparing to 'take action' after receiving the results of an autopsy report relating to the tragic death of a two-year-old girl whose body was found in the roof of her Victorian home.
The body of toddler Nikki Francis-Coslovich was discovered, fully clothed and covered in dust, inside the roof of her family home on Oram Court, Mildura, in north west Victoria, just after 5.30pm on Tuesday.
Police have received a report detailing the results of Nikki's autopsy, which is believed to hold vital information about the circumstances surrounding the toddler's tragic death.

Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said homicide detectives received the autopsy report on Thursday and expect to take action after reviewing the results.
'It's a very tragic case, one that we do view as suspicious,' he said.
'We expect to be taking some actions once we've done the proper analysis of the results of the autopsy.'

Nikki's body was found during a police search of the Mildura property that took place after she was reported missing at around 3.15pm on Tuesday.
Officers made the gruesome discovery at around 5.30pm after observing several fingerprints at the entrance of a manhole which lead to an empty space in the roof, the Herald Sun reported.
Peta-Ann Francis, the two-year-old's mother, said she put Nikki down for a nap at around midday but her daughter was not there when she returned to check on her some time later.

Police have remained tight-lipped over the matter, which has now been passed on to the homicide squad, only releasing a statement that advises detectives have been in contact with 'a number of people'.
'Detectives have spoken to a number of people in relation to the death and understand the public interest,' Victoria Police said on Thursday.
'The investigation is ongoing and further information will be released when detectives believe it will assist the investigation.'
Nikki's mother and her partner, John Torney, have assisted police with their inquiries.
Mr Torney, who is believed to have children of his own, was seen aggressively knocking a microphone out of a reporters hand on Wednesday.

He later told Seven News that he had seen Nikki at around 11am on the day she 'disappeared'.
Inspector Rebecca Olsen said Ms Francis and her extended family are 'co-operating with police'.
She told AAP that detectives do not believe Nikki's death was a 'random incident'.
'This is going to be a very complex investigation and they're going to be working very hard to resolve this.'
Nikki's father, Nicholas Coslovich, said he separated from his partner in February after a seven year relationship and had not seen Nikki or their three older children - all girls - for about a month

Mr Coslovich said he was being kept in the dark about the investigation.
'All I know is that my baby is gone and that she's not coming back,' he told Seven News
He said there was no history of violence in the home, however he did not know Ms Francis' new partner Mr Tourney.
He was interviewed by police on Tuesday night and told them he had been trying to renegotiate care arrangements for his three other daughters.
'I've lost the most purest of my four. I've lost my baby,' Mr Coslovich said.
'I'm hurt, I'm broken, I've got to try and stay strong for three other girls but I'm trying hard not to fall apart.'

He expressed an overwhelming sense of guilt about not being able to do more to save his little girl.
'I just can't believe I let it happen. My little girl's not here now. I'm sure there's something I could have done,' he said.
'Even though I know I did everything within the system. I feel I could have done more, I didn't save her.
'I sorta knew that I wasn't getting my baby back. I don't know how I knew, just inside I knew.'
Mr Cosolovich described the intense feeling of grief he was experincing after losing his youngest and 'purest' daughter.
'When I got the news that she'd passed, it took probably a minute or two to sink in and then I just broke,' he said.
'Since then it's just been coming in ebbs and flows, like I'll go numb and then I'll be overwhelmed.'

Mr Coslovich, who is separated from Ms Francis, told local newspaper Sunraysia Daily earlier his daughter would 'walk into a room and light it up.'
'If someone was feeling down or having a bad day she'd give them a big hug and everything would be OK.
'It's the purest little life to take away.'
According to Ms Francis' Facebook page, she started dating Mr Torney in May following her split from Mr Coslovich.
Mildura police had released a photo of the little girl on Tuesday afternoon along with details of what she was last seen wearing and urged the public to come forward with information.
It was originally thought that the toddler may have strayed from the home, with almost 200 people from the town assisting with the search.
All posts with the girl's photo and description were taken down as soon as her body was found.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3jzceDtSJ
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[Bewitchingstorm]

I posted this here yesterday but I guess there was some sort of server issue going on. Hopefully it is not a repeat.

I think this is the FB page for the mom:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php...7050&ref=br_rs

[Bewitchingstorm]

I posted this here yesterday but I guess there was some sort of server issue going on. Hopefully it is not a repeat.

I think this is the FB page for the mom:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php...7050&ref=br_rs

[luvit]

Victorian police have charged a man with the murder of toddler Nikki Francis-Coslovich in Victoria's north-west earlier this week.

The two-year-old was found dead at an address in Mildura on Tuesday, just hours after she was reported missing from the same place.

The partner of Nikki's mother, John Torney, 31, has been charged, and faced an out-of-sessions hearing at the Mildura Magistrates Court.

Torney lived three doors away from the home where Nikki lived with her mother, Peta Anne, and sisters, and where Nikki's body was found in the roof cavity.

Nikki's father Nicholas Coslovich said child protection had been monitoring the family since February.

The toddler's sisters and their mother had been living with Mr Coslovich and his mother, Helen Coslovich, up until February, but they moved out after he smacked one of his daughters.

"[Child protection] were monitoring my circumstances, Peta's circumstances and all the circumstances surrounding my children, with the interests of keeping my children safe," he said.

"But they failed one of them."

Mr Coslovich travelled to Melbourne on Friday to formally identify the toddler's body. It was the first time he had been on a plane.

"Apparently I get to stand behind a piece of glass and say whether that's my little girl," he said.

Nikki's family described her as a bubbly little girl who would "light up the room".

The family was now coming to terms with how to pay for her funeral, and have started web pages to help raise money.

"I can't handle this, and yet we've got to go through a funeral yet. Oh god," Nikki's grandmother Helen Coslovich said.

Torney has been remanded in custody and will re-appear at the Mildura Magistrates' Court on December 15.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-2...lovich/6734128

[luvit]

THE boyfriend of the mother of tragic two-year-old Nikki Francis-Coslovich was on Friday night charged with the child’s murder.

Homicide squad detectives had earlier arrested John Torney, 31, and spent the day questioning him over the mysterious death.

The late-night charge came as it emerged social workers closed the book on little Nikki, 2, just five weeks before she was killed.

A Department of Health and Human Services insider claimed on Friday that the toddler’s file had been closed, despite the continuing concerns of those working with her and the fears of her father, Nick Coslovich.

“Her file was closed five weeks ago and marked ‘no longer at significant risk’,” the source said.
“There were people in the agency who were concerned that the file was closed.

“Several child protection workers were upset (by Nikki’s death),” the insider said.

The DHHS source said that a “substantial” file had been compiled on little Nikki.

The Herald Sun understands that despite his being a regular presence in the house, Mr Torney had not been a main focus of child protection investigations into Nikki’s welfare.

Mr Coslovich and his family say they repeatedly told authorities that they were concerned about Nikki’s safety while she lived with her mother.

Mr Coslovich, who on Friday faced the heartbreaking task of identifying his daughter’s body, said afterwards: “Her forehead’s all bruised and beaten.

“She looks like she’s gone 12 rounds with an actual boxer.

“Her chin looks like it has gravel rash; it’s like she’s been dragged through the place,” Mr Coslovich said.

“Her face looks like a rainbow — it’s purple and pink and brown,” he said.

Mr Coslovich was shown only his daughter’s face at the viewing.

Family members donated money so he could fly to Melbourne to identify her.

He said: “I had to stop myself from tearing the place apart, I’m so angry. It’s exactly everything I’ve been saying.

“Everything I’ve been warning against is right there on her face — I’m so angry that my baby had to pay like that.”

Nikki’s body was found inside the roof cavity of the Mildura rental property where Peta-Ann Francis lived.

Ms Francis reported Nikki missing on Tuesday afternoon, saying she had put her daughter down for a nap but that when she went to check on her the bed was empty.

The Herald Sun understands police found fingerprints on an entrance to a manhole to the roof cavity where Nikki’s body was found.

Mr Torney, who lives two doors down from Ms Francis, had often stayed with her since their relationship began early this year.

A recent investigation by DHHS raised a number of concerns about the state of Ms Francis’s home.

Mr Coslovich told the Herald Sun he and other family members raised concerns, and case workers indicated they would further investigate.

But in July, Mr Coslovich received a letter to say the file had been closed.

The family was referred to an independent family support service.

DHHS media manager Mike Griffin said that under the law he could neither confirm nor deny DHHS involvement with Nikki.

A spokesman for the Minister for Families, Children and Youth Affairs said that the Government was unable to comment on the case.

Mr Torney was remanded in custody at an out-of-sessions hearing on Friday night to appear at Mildura Magistrates’ Court on December 15.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...rom=google_rss

[luvit]

Double D

[bermstalker]

"She would always introduce herself with, 'Hi, I'm Nikki and I'm 2'," Ms Fotheringham said.
"She just wasn't an average two-year-old, she was very fluent, and a bit cheeky."
The service ended with Let It Go, from the soundtrack of Disney's Frozen – all agreed it was a fitting tribute.
"She had a little bit of magic in her, that's what we wanted people to take away tonight," Mrs Fotheringham said.


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/hi...#ixzz3kIkqXqmD
Follow us: @theage on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook

[bermstalker]

Sounds like a lot of the locals say that mom is also to blame. They expect her to be charged soon.
Both of them are on drugs.

Bio dad doesn't sound much better. He has had some previous run ins with the law.

[Olivia]

Hours before two-year-old Nikki Francis-Coslovich was found dead in the ceiling of her home, neighbours heard her de facto stepfather John Torney screaming at the sobbing toddler.
A committal hearing in which Torney stands accused of the little girl's murder heard that neighbours saw Torney threatening his stepdaughter on the day before and the day of her death, News Corp reported.
Prosecutor Gavin Silbert QC told Mildura Magistrates Court on Monday that one neighbour saw Torney standing over the crying girl and saying 'Shut the f*** up you little c***'.
A day later, on August 25 last year, Nikki Francis' Coslovich's bruised body was found stashed in the ceiling of the home in Mildura in north-western Victoria that she shared with her three sisters and their mother.
Mr Silbert told Magistrate Margaret Harding that Torney allegedly later told the neighbour that he occasionally felt like harming the little girl.
'She does my head in,' Torney allegedly said. 'Always crying. Sometimes I feel like belting the s*** out her.'
Nikki's body was found just hours after her mother Peta-Ann Francis reported that she was missing.
Police entering Torney's Mildura home noticed dirty finger marks on the manhole cover in the ceiling, and searched the cavity to find Nikki's lifeless body.
The Mildura Court was also told another neighbour heard a male adult on the day Nikki died screaming 'no, no, no'.
Torney, who had previously been treated for anger management issues, had been living with Ms Francis since around May last year.
Ms Francis had split from the girls' father, Nick Coslovich, after their seven year relationship ended.
Victoria's Department of Health and Human Services had received at least four notifications relating to Ms Francis's four young daughters, but none of them related to Torney and the family had been given the all clear last July.
A post-mortem examination of Nikki Francis-Coslovich's body found she was covered in bruises and had died from internal blood loss resulting from blunt force trauma.
The committal hearing will continue.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3zdRuBka8
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[Bewitchingstorm]

Sickening. That poor baby girl.

[luvit]

Mother of murdered toddler Nikki Francis-Coslovich was neglectful, neighbours tell court

MURDERED toddler Nikki Francis-Coslovich’s mother Peta-Ann Francis was neglectful of her children, assaulted them and was regularly “out of it” on drugs, neighbours told a court this morning.

The concerns about Ms Francis’ mothering were again raised today during committal of her former partner John Torney, who is charged with Nikki’s murder.

Nikki’s body was found stashed in the ceiling of her home in August, just hours after she was reported missing.

On Tuesday, Ms Francis told the court she used marijuana but denied using ice, saying she didn’t know what the drug “looked like”.
But neighbour Kylie Kearns today told the court this that Ms Francis talked about ice and regularly appeared drug affected.

“Sometimes she would talk about ice. Whether she took it I can not say,” said neighbour and childhood friend Kylie Kearns.
Ms Kearns also said she saw Nikki and her siblings regularly unattended and agreed that Ms Franics was neglectful.

On the Friday before Nikki’s death, Ms Kearns said she saw Ms Francis grab one of her older children by the arm and “rip her along the ground”.

Under cross examination from his own lawyer Cecily Hollingworth, another neighbour Nikki-Lee Caton said she had seen Torney verbally abuse Nikki through “gritted teeth”.

Ms Caton said Nikki had once tried to get a horsey ride on her knee when Torney allegedly said: “F------ get away from her. Get back in front of the TV”.

The committal hearing before magistrate Margaret Harding continues.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law...7f54d3c1cb0efd

[blighted star]

Slightly more sordid detail from the hearings

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...marijuana.html

A woman whose partner allegedly killed her two-year-old daughter has admitted to smoking marijuana and having sex with the man on the day the young girl died.

Peta-Ann Francis, 28, appeared in the Mildura Magistrates Court in north-west Victoria on Tuesday as part of a committal hearing for John Torney, 31 - who is charged with killing Nikki Francis-Coslovich.
While fronting the court for more than three hours, Ms Francis admitted she bought marijuana on the morning of her daughter's death because she was 'anxious', and left Torney at home alone with young Nikki, according to the ABC.



'I wanted to go get drugs and didn't want her with me,' she told the court.

The 28-year-old also told the court she smoked the drugs with Torney when she returned, and the couple later had sex. The two-year-old girl's body was found stashed in the ceiling on Ms Francis' home in north-west Victoria on August 25, 2015, her body covered in bruises and dust.

She had been reported missing just hours earlier.

Ms Francis told the court she had been planning to leave Torney in the weeks leading up to her daughter's death.

'I was going to leave him, because of all the shit I put up with, him drinking all the time,' she said, according to the ABC.

The young mother also said she did not tell police investigators the entire truth when the arrived at her home because she was in shock, and 'was too concerned about where (her) daughter was'.
Ms Francis has three other young daughters.

It comes after the court heard on Monday Torney had screamed at the sobbing toddler on the day of her death.

A committal hearing in which Torney stands accused of the little girl's murder heard that neighbours saw Torney threatening his stepdaughter on the day before and the day of her death, News Corp reported.


The youngest of four little girls living with their mother in her new de facto's Mildura home, Nikki Francis-Coslovich survived only about four months before her battered body was found stashed in the ceiling +4
The youngest of four little girls living with their mother in her new de facto's Mildura home, Nikki Francis-Coslovich survived only about four months before her battered body was found stashed in the ceiling
Prosecutor Gavin Silbert QC told Mildura Magistrates Court on Monday that one neighbour saw Torney standing over the crying girl and saying 'Shut the f*** up you little c***'.

Mr Silbert told Magistrate Margaret Harding that Torney allegedly later told the neighbour that he occasionally felt like harming the little girl.

'She does my head in,' Torney allegedly said. 'Always crying. Sometimes I feel like belting the s*** out her.'

Police entering Torney's Mildura home noticed dirty finger marks on the manhole cover in the ceiling, and searched the cavity to find the two-year-old's body.

Nikki's father Nick Coslovich (pictured, left) split up with the mother of his four daughters Peta-Ann Francis (above) after a seven year relationship and she moved in with John Torney

Peta-Ann Francis reported her youngets daughter missing and a few hours later a police officer saw dirty finger maeks on the home's manholde and made the grisly discovery

Nikki's father Nick Coslovich (pictured, left) split up with the mother of his four daughters Peta-Ann Francis (above right) after a seven year relationship and she moved in with John Torney
Another neighbour told the court they heard a male adult on the day Nikki died screaming 'no, no, no'.
Torney, who had previously been treated for anger management issues, had been living with Ms Francis since around May last year.
Ms Francis had split from the girls' father, Nick Coslovich, after their seven year relationship ended.
Victoria's Department of Health and Human Services had received at least four notifications relating to Ms Francis's four young daughters, but none of them related to Torney and the family had been given the all clear last July.
A post-mortem examination of Nikki Francis-Coslovich's body found she died from internal blood loss resulting from blunt force trauma.

The committal hearing continues.

People in the town of Mildura released balloons at a vigil following the murder of Nikki Francis-Coslovich who, a court heard on Monday, was screamed at before she died by stepfather John Torney's who allegedly said he sometimes 'felt like belting her'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3zvNI1ysf
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[bermstalker]

one neighbour saw Torney standing over the crying girl and saying 'Shut the f*** up you little c***'.

Torney allegedly later told the neighbour that he occasionally felt like harming the little girl.
'She does my head in,' Torney allegedly said. 'Always crying. Sometimes I feel like belting the s*** out her.'

Torney's who allegedly said he sometimes 'felt like belting her'

Ms Caton said Nikki had once tried to get a horsey ride on her knee when Torney allegedly said: “F------ get away from her. Get back in front of the TV”.

Ms Kearns said she saw Ms Francis grab one of her older children by the arm and “rip her along the ground”.

I mind my own business, but if I heard/saw that- I would have lost my f'ing mind with that asshole. I would have called everybody I could think of to try and help that little girl. I totally would have went all kevansvault on both of them.