An elderly woman who died after spending the night in a near-freezing shipping container in Tasmania needed around the clock high-level care, an inquest has heard. Janet Mackozdi, 77, died of hypothermia in July 2010 while sleeping in the converted container at her daughter and son-in-law’s Mount Lloyd property. Five years later, Jassy Anglin and husband Michael Anglin were convicted of Ms Mackozdi’s manslaughter. An inquest into her death is examining broader issues of elder abuse and whether her family withheld care intentionally and depleted her money for their personal use. Today it heard from two health staff, one who gave an aged care assessment of Ms Mackozdi the year before her death after she’d fractured her neck. Social worker Merrilyn Orr found she needed “a high level of care” and assistance eating. Ms Orr said it was her opinion 24-hour care was required even after Ms Mackozdi’s neck brace was removed. One of Ms Mackozdi’s general practitioners spoke of the challenges her family would have faced in providing adequate at-home care. “I think it would have been a very, very difficult thing to do,” Dr Sujeewa Fernando said. Ms Mackozdi had dementia and mobility problems and weighed just 37kg when she died. She was placed in a bed in the shipping container on a July night in 2010 as the family’s dilapidated hut was full of boxes from moving house. It is estimated the temperature dropped to as low as 0.1C overnight. Her body was found the next morning. The Anglins drove her to Royal Hobart Hospital but initially claimed she had died on a road trip to Mount Field National Park. On Monday, Constable Nicholas Monk, said the converted shipping container had inch-wide gaps around the door and air from outside would have flowed in. Ms Mackozdi’s financial planners, as well as other doctors and family, are expected to give evidence at the inquest this week.
