The wife of a man "strongly suspected" of killing their baby girl says her husband did not call emergency services or seek help after the child died because he panicked and "just did not know what to do".
The woman, who cannot be identified, was giving evidence at an inquest into the death of the 11-month-old girl — known only as 'Baby P' — at the family's home in Perth's south eastern suburbs in 2014.
The inquest has previously heard police "strongly suspected" the father had killed the child, but he was never charged with any offence based on advice they were given.
The man had told police the baby died while he was having a 12-minute telephone conversation with his wife, who was at work.
He claimed when the call started the child was sitting up crying in bed, but he walked away and when he returned, he found the baby lying face down in a pillow and not breathing.
The mother, who is still married to the man with whom she has another child, told the inquest on Monday that before she left for work the baby was "happy and healthy" although she claimed the child did have a "runny nose".
She said when she asked her husband what had happened on that day, he told her that after their phone call "he turned around and the baby was facing down".
She said he maintained he tried to save the baby with the basic first aid knowledge he had but he did not call an ambulance or seek help from anywhere else because "he didn't know what else to do".
"He just didn't know all those things, he just panicked. He tried to save her life for a long time," she said.
The inquest has heard that after the baby's death, the man took 10 sleeping tablets before driving to a train station where he claimed he was going to jump in front of a train with the baby, but he decided against it.
He said he then returned home, turned on a gas stove and lay down on the couch with the baby, before his wife came home and found him unconscious and the baby "purple and floppy".
While she was still at work, she said she had two other phone conversations with her husband but he did not tell her what had happened.
No explanation for mystery injuries
In her evidence, the woman said her husband sounded "weird and abnormal", testifying they had argued about ex-partners, and she had told him she wanted to go to a lawyer the next day to get a divorce.
The woman said that was something they always said to each other during other arguments and she had not meant it.
She said while they would have arguments about once a month, they loved each other and although he had once hit her in the face before they were married, she had never seen him abuse the baby.
The woman told the inquest she could not explain how the baby had suffered bruising on her face and what appeared to be blisters on her feet in the months before her death.
The inquest heard the woman had taken photographs of the injuries on her telephone to send to her mother for advice, and she said when she asked her husband if he knew anything about them, he "was surprised as well".
The woman suggested the injuries may have been caused when the baby was crawling or trying to stand up or from the way she was "handled".
Deputy state coroner Evelyn Vicker has indicated on the basis of the evidence before her, she will deliver an open finding into the baby's death.
The man will not be called to give evidence.
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