Tearful parent's attend infant daughter's inquest

The parents of a 5-month-old girl found lifeless in her cot with a pillow covering her chest say they cannot move on until the inquiry into her death is finished.

Akayelah Colleen Dejah Collis was found in a "lifeless state" by her father Phillip when he went to check on her about two hours after putting her to sleep on the evening of December 17 last year.

She died at Starship Hospital the following morning after suffering a multi-system organ failure, said the police report.

Mr Collis and his wife Lucille Neho were still coming to terms with the loss of their "beautiful little girl", and said they could not get closure until the inquest was completed.

"Not till the day it's fully over is it going to be over for us. We want to be able to move on," said Mr Collis.

The tearful parents held hands while they listened to the police report at the coroner's inquest into Akayelah's death today.

Mr Collis told the hearing how on December 17 he fed her a bottle of milk before putting her to sleep in a porta-cot in their bedroom.

When he returned to check on her at 8.15pm, he found the pillow on her chest and his daughter unresponsive.

In his original statement to police he said he put Akayelah to bed with her bottle and a pillow on her knees, and returned to find the pillow covering her head.

But he later changed the details saying the police report was incorrect.

"The pillow was down the lower part of the porta-cot and it was definitely on her chest not her face because that image is in my head forever," he told the court.

"There was liquid coming out of her and it had a milky consistency but it was more like bile," said Mr Collis.

He called emergency services and started CPR.

When ambulance officers arrived they continued to try to resuscitate the infant and she was taken to hospital for treatment.

A post mortem examination found the girl died from lack of oxygen.

The couple had tried getting their daughter to sleep on her side as they had been advised to by Plunket and their midwife, but she wouldn't do it, said Mr Collis.

"She liked to sleep with her arms out like a starfish."

He said Akayelah had recently started moving around more in bed and she might have kicked the pillow upwards on the night of the incident.

He also clarified he used a blanket to half-cover Akayelah when he put her down to sleep, rather than no blanket as he said in the original statement.

She was sometimes put to sleep in her cot with her bottle and one or two adult-sized pillows placed on her chest to support her while she fed, said Mrs Neho.

The pillows were usually removed afterwards, she said.

Mrs Neho said she was aware there shouldn't be any pillows in a baby's cot, "but Akayelah had this certain pillowcase she adored, loved," she said.

Coroner Morag McDowell asked Mrs Neho about her smoking history during the pregnancy and she said at the beginning she smoked 8-9 cigarettes a day but cut down to one or two a day by the end.

The couple are due to have their second child in three weeks.

The inquest has been adjourned until the coroner can get additional information from the pathologist, who is overseas and due back next week.