Jordan Thompson’s mother Bernice Swales gives evidence at manslaughter trial of Cecil Kennedy

A woman has told a jury she returned home to find her former lover screaming that “something is wrong” with her 21-month-old son. Her ex is now facing trial after pleading not guilty to the child’s manslaughter.

Toddler Jordan Thompson. died on March 19, 2005 at Singleton. (File picture)

A woman has told a jury of the harrowing moment she carried the lifeless body of her toddler son as she sprinted to a hospital for help after arriving home to find her then-boyfriend screaming: “Quick, there is something wrong with Jordan.”

Bernice Swales told Downing Centre District Court on Wednesday that she had returned from a short shopping trip to find her then-lover, Cecil Patrick Kennedy, in one of the bedrooms of his Singleton home with her 21-month-old toddler Jordan Thompson laying naked on a bed.

Ms Swales was giving evidence on the second day of the trial of Kennedy, who has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Jordan in 2005, denying that he was criminally responsible for the child’s death after an autopsy found Jordan had a lethal dose of an antidepressant in his system.

The mother told the jury she had arrived back late in the afternoon of March 19, 2005, to Kennedy’s plea and found him standing next to Jordan, who was naked on a bed and not moving.

She said Kennedy said he had placed Jordan into a bath after finding him “wet right through” following an afternoon nap before momentarily leaving the bathroom only to return and find the toddler face down.

Bernice Swales gave evidence on Wednesday in the trial of her former partner Cecil Patrick Kennedy, who is accused of killing her 21-month-old son Jordan Thompson in Singleton on March 19, 2005. (File picture)

Ms Swales said Kennedy told her Jordan had fallen “out” of the bath, later telling the jury her toddler son was normally “steady on his feet” and “very capable in the water”, and that he would often lie down during bath time and blow bubbles.

She grabbed her boy and ran to Singleton Hospital, which was diagonally across the road from the unit, and fell to her knees and elbows at one stage as she lost her footing.

Cecil Kennedy leaves the Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Jordan could not be revived.

Ms Swales said Jordan and the bed he was lying on were both dry when he picked him up and raced him to hospital, though she would later agree with Kennedy’s defence barrister Linda McSpedden that she had initially told police Jordan was cold and “damp” when she first touched him.

The court heard it was not until almost a month after Jordan’s death that detectives had sat down with Ms Swales, Kennedy and Kennedy’s mother to tell them blood tests had returned and revealed the antidepressant in Jordan’s system.

They had also found an antidepressant in a cupboard of Kennedy’s home.

She said she was “shocked” and looked straight at Kennedy’s mother as Kennedy stared at the floor.

Ms Swales and Kennedy had later spoken about the blood results and Kennedy told her he could not understand how the child could have ingested the medication.

They theorised that Jordan, who had appeared sick after a contact visit with his father two days before and had vomited earlier on the morning of his death, could have ingested something while away with his paternal relatives.

Ms Swales would deny under cross-examination from Ms McSpedden that Ms Swales was aware her unit had been bugged by detectives after they disclosed the blood test findings and had been asked by investigators to question Kennedy on the presence of the drugs.

She would later tell the jury she had started writing down what Kennedy was telling her because “what he was telling me wasn’t consistent”.

She also denied under cross-examination that she had slapped Jordan, or that she had told Kennedy her son appeared “off his face” after arriving home from the contact visit with his father.

The trial, before Judge Craig Smith, continues and is expected to last at least six weeks.