Four young children allegedly lived amongst faeces and grime in a north Canberra home described as "the worst house of squalor" a Housing ACT worker has seen in her 20 years of experience.
The "disturbing" conditions are detailed in police documents tendered to the ACT Magistrates Court, where the children's mother appeared facing eight child neglect charges on Monday.
The woman, who cannot be named, was the sole carer for the children, aged eight and under, when they lived at the Housing ACT property.
The first signs of squalor emerged last September, when the property's manager saw, from outside, that the curtains were "completely black with mould".
This prompted the concerned manager to call Child and Youth Protection Services.
Court documents do not explain whether that agency took any immediate action, with police instead moving on to describe how a man attended the property in January in response to complaints of a water leak.
This man arranged for the water to be shut off, and the woman and her children were moved to temporary accommodation at a hotel.
When the man eventually entered the home, he is said to have begun "gagging due to the smell of rotten food and faeces".
Police describe how he slipped on "slime" that coated the floor, and how some rooms were filled with piles of mess so high he could not access them.
"[The man] still feels traumatised from seeing the house in such a disturbing state, and what he would describe as a couple of years' worth of accumulation of filth," court documents say.
After the man submitted a report detailing $113,000 worth of repairs required at the property, its manager and a tenancy support officer visited the place in February.
On the premises, they apparently found two scared dogs with no food or water. According to police, the animals began eating "like there was no tomorrow" when they were given food.
Rangers removed the dogs, and the two Housing ACT workers entered the house in full personal protective equipment.
Inside, the property manager "saw faeces embedded into the floor, a high chair that was so dirty she would not even put a dog in it let alone a toddler", filthy floors, dirty mattresses and "grime everywhere".
"[The tenancy support officer] has worked in frontline services for 20 years, and yet described [the home] as being the worst house of squalor she has ever seen," court documents say.
Police further allege that on March 4, they found two of the "visibly dirty" children "freezing" at the hotel to which the family had relocated.
Inside the rooms the family were occupying, police described there being "faeces on every towel, rotten food in the fridge, and only one toothbrush between five people".
Officers also claim to have observed, among other things, "faeces on the walls in the living area" and "margarine smeared all over the beds".
"Police could also smell a pervasive odour of rotten food, cigarette and faeces throughout the two rooms," the documents state.
The children's mother was arrested and later granted bail by a magistrate.
When the woman appeared in court on Monday to seek bail variations, her lawyer, Darryl Perkins, said the children were now living in Sydney with a grandparent.
Mr Perkins indicated care and protections were also under way in the ACT Children's Court.
Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker agreed to vary bail on Monday, telling the woman she must remain in the ACT and not contact her children unless she had already arranged with Child and Youth Protection Services to do so.
The case is due in court again on Tuesday.
