Bradley Andrew Graham gives evidence at trial of Leeanne Chrysilla Eatts

A neighbour has recalled hearing Leeanne Eatts telling her children never to go down to the Ross River. Read their court statements.

Leeanne Chrysilla Eatts on trial for manslaughter over the death of her two sons, Barak Austral 5 and Jhulio Sariago 3.

Two college rowers training on the Ross River spotted a young boy waving from a steep bank on the afternoon that two boys drowned in 2019, the Townsville Supreme Court heard on Thursday.

Leeanne Chrysilla Eatts, 52, has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Barak Brian Austral, 5 (known as Junior) and Jhulio Maximus Arturo Sariago, 3, who drowned in flooded conditions beside the Ross River in Townsville on February 25, 2019.

Bradley Andrew Graham, a university student and rowing coach, told the court he was a Grade 11 student at The Cathedral School at the time of the double drowning.

He said he was training in a single scull for the Sydney International Regatta, which was to be held in March, 2019.

He said he finished school at 3.10pm on February 25, and went to the JCU boatshed with his coach and other rowers at 3.45pm.

The court heard that they launched a small tinny containing the coach into the river and Graham said he began his training row at 4.17pm.

He told the court that he knew the time accurately because he had activated his Garmin watch, which was able to monitor and record heart rate, stroke rate, times and distances of his training.

He said as he was rowing along the day was sunny and clear.

“I heard a bit of a scream, a bit of shouting, and I looked over my left shoulder and saw a boy on the bank,” he said.

“The boy was wearing a school uniform, red, white and blue, but I don’t know which school, and he had short black hair and he was waving at us.”

Graham said the boy looked to be about six to nine years old and he didn’t see anyone else around him.

“He seemed happy and waving. I only saw him briefly and he was on the top of a steep embankment that looked to be about four or five metres high,” he said.

Graham said he continued rowing and returned to the JCU boathouse, found out the following day about two boys drowning and contacted police.

Another witness, Gordon Appelcryn, told the court he was now a rowing coach at Scots College in Sydney and had also been a Grade 11 Cathedral School student and rowing team member in 2019.

He said he was in a double scull some distance behind Graham on the day in question, when he also noticed a boy waving his right arm from an embankment above the river.

“He was waving in a friendly way, to my left about 40 to 50 metres away, and we always saw kids doing that along the river,” he said.

Eatts was tearful and distressed while the two rowers gave their evidence late morning.

They were among seven prosecution witnesses who gave evidence Thursday morning and all of them spoke of seeing one or both boys on February 25, 2019, and none of the seven saw any adults anywhere near the boys.

Retired hospital administration assistant, Therese Mary Niven told the court that she was a neighbour of Eatts in 2019 and on February 24 that year, heard Eatts yelling loudly.

“She was saying ‘I told you before, never, ever go down there’ and she repeated it time and time again,” she said.

The court heard this incident followed the boys throwing their bike into the muddy bank of the creek beside Ross River earlier that day.

Ms Niven said on February 25, she heard Eatts going up and down the street calling out the boys’ names after she had earlier seen the pair heading towards the creek beside the river.

Landscape construction company general manager, Barry Edward Heffer told the jury that in early 2019 he had been engaged by the City Council to inspect the state of concrete footpaths on both sides of the Ross River after the flooding.

He said on the afternoon of February 25, as he was taking photographs along the footpath, he noticed two young Aboriginal boys playing on the opposite side of the river in a steep area covered by waist-high grass.

Mr Heffer said he noticed one of them seemed to be attempting to climb up the embankment but he saw nothing else, as he moved on, but he said there were no adults in the area.

Originally published as Bradley Andrew Graham gives evidence at trial of Leeanne Chrysilla Eatts