The father of the little girl who was found dead in her home on Tuesday has revealed that he pleaded with the authorities to help him ‘save her’ just days before she was killed.
Nicholas Coslovich, the father of two-year-old Nikki Francis-Coslovich who was found dead in a ceiling space in her own home, claims he sent text messages to a family service worker nine days before Nikki was found dead.
A text message reportedly sent from Mr Coslovich’s phone on August 17th reads, “I need to get the girls out of that house and fast … I must save my girls b4 it’s too late. Pls help me.”
On top of this desperate message, Coslovich also claims that he made multiple pleas to the Mallee Family Care and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Child Protection Unit before her dead, to no avail.
“This is where my guilt comes in: I didn’t force the system to do anything,” Coslovich told The Age, “I kept telling them, but I didn’t force anything to happen.”
Since Nikki’s death, Mr Coslovich has applied for full custody of his remaining three daughters that he shares with ex-partner, Peta-Ann Francis.
Nicholas Coslovich with Nikki’s favourite toy. Image via The Age.
Speaking to Seven News, Coslovich recounted his anguish at losing the “purest” of his four daughters, “All I know is that my baby is gone and that she’s not coming back.”
“I’ve lost the most purest of my four. I’ve lost my baby,” he 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.”
“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,” he told Seven News, “I sorta knew that I wasn’t getting my baby back. I don’t know how I knew, just inside I knew.”
“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.”
Nikki was found dead, covered in dust, in the ceiling of her family home in Oram Court, Mildura, Victoria on Tuesday, just two hours after her mother reported her as missing.
An autopsy confirmed that her death was caused by a blunt-force trauma.
A local man, aged 31, has been arrested in conjunction with her death.
