The mother of a two-year-old girl who died with the opioid oxycodone in her system was spared jail time for her role in a clandestine drug laboratory, a coronial inquest has heard.
Armarnie-Bree Elliott died on May 3, 2012 after vomiting a black substance in her cot.
The West Australian coroner is now investigating the circumstances surrounding the toddler's death, including how she came to have oxycodone in her system.
The inquest heard on Monday that Armarnie's mother, Brook Joyce Elliott, had separated from the child's father amid domestic violence and then struggled to find stable accommodation, eventually moving to a women's refuge.
In her opening address, counsel assisting the coroner Kate Ellson said the day before Armarnie died, police searched a house where the toddler and her mother had previously stayed and seized items connected to the manufacture of methamphetamine.
They had been living in the games room a month earlier and Ms Elliott had helped make drugs there.
She was charged after the child's death and was sentenced to nine months in jail, suspended for one year.
The inquest also heard that in early 2012, Armarnie was diagnosed with Angelman's syndrome, a genetic disorder characterised by intellectual and developmental delay, frequent smiling and a usually happy demeanour.
She had also been ill with flu-like symptoms in the month before her death, and an autopsy showed she had died of pneumonia combined with the effect of the oxycodone.
Ms Elliott had booked a doctor's appointment for Armarnie at midday on May 3 and had given the child medication before putting her to sleep.
She checked on Armarnie at midnight and when she checked on her again at 3am she found vomit near the toddler's face.
Armarnie was also limp with blue lips and both nostrils were blocked by mucus.
She was declared dead at Swan District Hospital at 4.35am.
The inquest continues.
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