Dionne Grills not guilty of manslaughter of toddler left on daycare bus
A jury has delivered its verdict in the manslaughter trial of a daycare worker charged after the death of a toddler who was left on a minibus. FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED
Cairns
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In the end, there were no words.
Two years of unimaginable anguish for a grieving family and legal torment for a woman charged with the manslaughter of their three-year-old boy and it came down to one verdict - not guilty.
Former childcare worker Dionne Batrice Grills had been charged with manslaughter in the weeks following the death of Maliq “Meeky” Nicholas Floyd Namok-Malamoo, but the charge was thrown out at a committal hearing, only to be brought afresh several months later.
Her trial in Cairns Supreme Court began on April 11.
Meeky died after being left strapped in his babyseat on a daycare minibus in searing heat for almost six hours on February 18, 2020.
Several family members were present throughout the trial on Thursday and departed with their heads downcast, wearing dark glasses and declining to comment.
Ms Grills, 36, sat impassively throughout the arduous eight day trial, nodding slightly at times as legal counsel spoke – but she had tears in her eyes when the jury foreman quietly announced the verdict.
The jury deliberated for four hours, seeking directions twice.
Ms Grills, dressed in a plain pants suit, strode purposefully from the court with a curt “no comment”.
Her former boss, Goodstart Edmonton childcare director Michael Lewis, is serving six years after pleading guilty to manslaughter – he was sentenced just days after the first year anniversary of Meeky’s death.
Giving evidence at Ms Grills trial in recent days, Mr Lewis claimed he had told his colleague “you get him, I’ve got to go”.
But giving direction to the jury before they began their deliberations, Justice Peter Applegarth said the prosecution could not prove Ms Grills heard any such statement, and there were “great doubts he said such a thing” as he did not mention it to his lawyers as a potential mitigating factor at his sentencing hearing.
Earlier court proceedings heard Meeky had been collected from his home by Lewis about 9.20am after he was forgotten on the day care’s first collection run, but was then left inside the bus until 3.13pm that day.
Temperatures inside the bus likely reached up to 56C.
The crucial question was who had duty of care for Meeky once Ms Grills left the bus – leaving Meeky with Mr Lewis.
Directing the jury, Justice Applegarth discussed the concept of duty of care, saying it may not be a breach of duty to rely on another person.
He said it was not necessarily a breach of duty to entrust the task to someone else.
“In this case Ms Grills did not remove Maliq from the bus, she did not check whether Mr Lewis had, did not confirm with Mr Lewis he had been taken from the bus, she assumed he had been … the issue is whether she was required to do any of those things at the relevant time,” he said.
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Originally published as Dionne Grills not guilty of manslaughter of toddler left on daycare bus
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