Dad acquitted over baby death won’t give evidence at inquest

A coroner examining the cause of six-week old baby Matthew Baxter’s death has made a ruling over the boy’s father, who was acquitted of murder following the death, giving evidence.

Nicholas Baxter (left) was acquitted at trial in 2021 over the death of his son Matthew Riley Baxter (right).

A coroner examining the cause of six-week old baby Matthew Baxter’s death has ruled that the boy’s father, who was acquitted of murder following the death, need not give evidence during the inquest.

Coroner Stephanie Williams delivered the decision on Tuesday during ongoing inquest proceedings which are examining the cause of Matthew’s death.

Townsville father Nicholas Baxter was charged with murder after the six-week-old baby was rushed to hospital with brain and retinal haemorrhaging on November 3, 2011.

The inquest has heard evidence from medical experts that a number of the boy’s ribs had also been fractured in what appeared to be two separate instances in the weeks leading up to his death.

Matthew’s life support was switched off three days after his admission into Townsville Hospital.

Mr Baxter was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter at a trial in 2017 – for which he was sentenced to nine years in jail.

A successful appeal quashed that conviction, however, and he was ultimately acquitted of manslaughter at a judge-only retrial in 2021.

Mr Baxter has always denied the allegations.

Townsville father Nicholas Aaron Baxter was acquitted of manslaughter at a retrial in 2021.

During the ongoing Brisbane Coroners Court inquest into Matthew’s death, counsel submitted on Mr Baxter’s behalf that he should not be required to give evidence.

It was submitted that Mr Baxter’s account would not have changed from the evidence he had already given at his 2017 trial, and that it was not necessary for him to respond to any additional evidence heard at the inquest.

During that trial, Mr Baxter had responded “no” when asked if he had shaken, struck, or killed his son.

Ms Williams accepted during her ruling on Tuesday that Mr Baxter had already given a “detailed account” during the original trial, which she had a copy of to consider.

She said her primary concern had been to afford him procedural fairness, were she persuaded of “adverse findings” against him.

But Ms Williams said she was satisfied, following his counsel’s submissions, that Mr Baxter did not wish to attend and did not consider it an injustice.

Prior to Ms Williams ruling, the inquest heard evidence from haematologist Jeremy Roberton, who said he had found “mild abnormalities” when he viewed Matthew’s pathology testing results.

He said these were consistent with Matthew’s provided history, but not “sufficiently abnormal” to the degree it could explain the fatal haemorrhage.

Baby Matthew Riley Baxter fighting for his life on life support in the Townsville Hospital.

The inquest heard Matthew’s results had showed severe anaemia, which Dr Robertson said could be caused by a “relatively short list of things”.

“Blood loss is certainly in the top of the list – and certainly in rapid development of anaemia, blood loss would be almost the sole cause.”

Dr Robertson said other possible causes that he was aware of were not likely in this case, in his view.

“The probability that he had a severe underlying bleeding disorder is low,” Dr Robertson said.

He said there were often “clues” like widespread bruising or abnormal bleeding around the time of birth for such disorders.

Dr Robertson also noted that in his experience, retinal haemorrhages were not a presenting feature of a bleeding disorder.

The inquest previously heard evidence on Monday from neuropathologist Thomas Robertson, who examined Matthew’s brain after death.

When asked by counsel assisting Jeffrey Hunter, he confirmed that he did not identity evidence of a torn bridging vein or a source of bleeding.

However, he said such a thing would be “exceptional” to identify, and that out of hundreds of baby brains he had examined, he had only managed to identify this once.

He said the brain’s deteriorated state, following it being “fixed” and transported from Townsville to Brisbane, also “wouldn’t have helped”.

“You don’t normally find a likely sign of bleeding – and it would have made it less likely.”

The inquest is expected to continue Wednesday and Thursday.

Originally published as Dad acquitted over baby death won’t give evidence at inquest