Cecil Patrick Kennedy faces trial over alleged 2005 manslaughter of toddler Jordan Thompson in Singleton
A prosecutor claims a man lied about the death of his partner’s toddler, who was allegedly poisoned with antidepressants while in his care at his Hunter Valley unit nearly two decades ago.
Newcastle
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A prosecutor will try to prove a man told numerous lies about the death of his partner’s toddler while in his care, and that he was the one responsible for poisoning the child with antidepressants.
Cecil Patrick Kennedy is facing up to an eight-week trial after pleading not guilty to manslaughter in relation to the death of Jordan Thompson at his Singleton unit in the Hunter Valley region 19 years ago.
The 51-year-old was arrested in September 2021 over the death of the 21-month-old on March 19, 2005.
The child’s mother, Bernice Swales, had left the house to run errands and buy dinner.
When she returned just after 6pm that night, she found the toddler naked on the bed, unresponsive, and Kennedy saying there was something wrong with the child.
Both Ms Swales and Kennedy tried to resuscitate the child before picking him up and running across the road to the Singleton hospital to get help.
Jordan, who was described as “limb, pale and flaccid”, couldn’t be saved.
In the Sydney Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday, the trial commenced as both parties gave their opening addresses to an empanelled jury.
The jury heard Kennedy told police the child had drowned, and that he had found him face down after leaving him alone in the bathtub for about 40-90 seconds.
But Crown prosecutor Kate Nightingale argues he is criminally responsible for the death of the child and that he deliberately gave him a lethal dose of an antidepressant, or that he was negligent in leaving the child in the bathtub unsupervised while he was drugged and unwell.
The Crown says Kennedy lied about a number of things, including why he put the child in the bath and how long he left him in there.
Ms Nightingale also said Kennedy suggested Jordan may have found a pill on the floor and ingested it, as well as blaming others about why the child had antidepressants in his system following an autopsy.
The Crown will also try to prove that Kennedy lied about going back to his unit the following day with his mother and looking for his antidepressant medication because he was the one who gave it to the child and did not want police to find it.
But defence barrister Linda McSpedden said allegations he gave the child an antidepressant were “vigorously” denied by her client, and that he never made any admissions to killing the child.
Ms McSpedden said expert evidence would say there was no clear cause found for the child’s death.
The trial continues before Judge Craig Smith.
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