THE 11-year-old daughter of a mother of six charged with starving her 18-month-old twins to death discovered the decomposing bodies of her siblings days before police were notified, a court heard.

The Brisbane Magistrates Court was told that the oldest sister of the twins revealed the discovery to her mother, who then waited several days before confessing to her adopted mother the toddlers were dead on June 16 last year.

The court was told the 11-year-old even expressed grave fears for the twins’ health and welfare in a series of conversations with her grandmother in the weeks before they died.

The twins’ father, 29, and mother, 31, yesterday appeared for the second day of evidence in their joint committal hearing to answer charges of murdering, torturing and failing to provide the necessaries of life to the twins between December 2007 and June 2008.

Under existing Queensland laws, publication of the identities of any witnesses that could identify the couple’s children is prohibited.

The accused woman’s father testified his 11-year-old granddaughter had complained to him there was never any food in the family-of-eight’s modest rented Sunnybank Hills home, in Brisbane’s south.

Police computer analyst Leo Wyszynski told the court it was possible the twins’ mother had become increasingly engrossed in the 3-D computer virtual world game Second Life in the six months before her children’s deaths.

Mr Wyszynski said analysis of the family’s home computer showed the person who had been playing the game had constructed an Avatar – a computer generated image of a person or their alter ego – with adult female attributes.

Magistrate Chris Callagahan was also told the twins’ parents had been arguing constantly over money and the father’s constant gambling, which included playing in night-time pub poker tournaments up to six nights almost every week.

The hearing continues.

SOURCE:  http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26301465-3102,00.html