Murdered toddler Jaidyn Leskie would have turned 18 this month as his case revives the sordid world of drugs, booze, sex, lies and the ‘pigs head gang’ in Victorian town of Moe
BIG READ: A TODDLER’S unsolved murder, a severed pig’s head, and a world of drugs, booze, sex and lies haunt Moe 17 years on. Plus: What authorities say happened.
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MURDERED Moe toddler Jaidyn Leskie’s mother Bilynda Williams fought long and hard for justice for her son — and was bitterly disappointed not to get it.
It was her tenacity, along with her very vocal campaign in the Herald Sun, that persuaded State Coroner Graeme Johnstone to hold the Leskie inquest several years after his death.
Mr Johnstone found in 2006 that Jaidyn’s babysitter Greg Domaszewicz disposed of Jaidyn’s body. Scroll down to read his findings.
Jaidyn disappeared from Domaszewicz’s home in Narracan Drive, Newborough, outside Moe, late on June 14, 1997, or in the early hours of the following morning.
Domaszewicz was Bilynda’s boyfriend at the time and was babysitting 14-month-old Jaidyn on the night he went missing.
Jaidyn’s body was found in nearby Blue Rock Dam six months later.
Domaszewicz was charged with murdering Jaidyn but was acquitted in 1998 after a Supreme Court trial.
PART TWO IN THE SUNDAY HERALD SUN - WHAT BILYNDA NOW THINKS OF GREG: ‘I HOPE JAIDYN NOW COMES BACK TO HAUNT YOU ...’
Bilynda’s passion about getting justice for Jaidyn — who would have turned 18 this month — hasn’t lessened over the years.
But she now has five children and a husband to care for and at this stage she doesn’t want to again go public with her fight.
An unpublished book she has written — which she provided to the Herald Sun — covers her life from first meeting Jaidyn’s father Brett Leskie as a naive 17-year-old in 1992 and continues through her relationship with Domaszewicz, the disappearance of Jaidyn, the murder trial and its aftermath and her marriage to Jeremy Williams in September 2001.
She and Jeremy have since had four children and are living happily together in country Victoria.
Bilynda’s book details how her relationship with Domaszewicz developed to the extent she trusted him enough to let him babysit Jaidyn.
Brett Leskie married Bilynda’s older sister Katie in October 1992, when they were both 20. Katie already had an eight-month-old son, Harley, to a different man.
Their daughter, Shannon, was born nine months later. Brett left Katie shortly before Shannon was born to start a relationship with Bilynda, who was 17.
Brett and Bilynda had two children — Breehanna, born in January 1995, and Jaidyn, born in April 1996 — before breaking off their engagement in April 1997.
Domaszewicz started a relationship with Bilynda about the time she and Brett broke up. He was 28, she was 21.
Greg continued to sleep with his former girlfriend Yvonne Penfold throughout his 1997 relationship with Bilynda.
Bilynda’s book explains how her relationship with Domaszewicz both started and soured.
“I had first met Greg through Brett. They had shared a business on Delatore Road in Moe, spray painting cars and doing odd jobs,’’ she said.
“Then one day Greg asked me if it would be OK if he looked after Jaidyn on his own. Katie found this a bit strange but encouraged me anyway, saying ‘He’ll be OK’ and I agreed.
“I mean, it would only be for half an hour. I was stressing, wanting to go back, counting the minutes that passed until finally it was time to go and pick Jaidyn up.
“When we arrived, Jaidyn was out the back lying in the sun with Greg’s dogs, Jack, Sam and Shep. He looked like he had fun and was smiling when we went to pick him up.
“Greg was asking for Jaidyn a lot more often now, telling me that he didn’t like Julie (a regular babysitter used by Katie and Bilynda) looking after the kids and would prefer Jaidyn to stay with him.“
On June 12, 1997, three days before Jaidyn was reported missing, Bilynda returned from a short shopping trip to pick up her son and was shocked to find Domaszewicz had cut Jaidyn’s hair.
He had shaved Jaidyn’s head at the front to resemble his own receding hairline. All that was left was an ugly half-moon of stubble.
GREG DOMASZEWICZ BREAKS HIS SILENCE ON JAIDYN
PIG HEAD THROWER: ‘I WAS AN IDIOT’
He had also cut small triangles into the hair on the back of Jaidyn’s head.
Bilynda and Katie were disturbed by the haircut, telling Domaszewicz it appeared he was trying to make Jaidyn look like him.
“In hindsight, the warning signs were there. I just couldn’t see them,’’ Bilynda told the Herald Sun in 2003.
“Greg kept asking to look after Jaidyn. I trusted him and it gave me time to go out, so I let him. Of course, if I could turn back time I would never have gone out drinking that fateful night. Doing so is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life.’’
Bilynda had a big night planned for Saturday June 14, 1997. She had arranged to leave her children Jaidyn and Breehanna to be looked after at her sister Katie Leskie’s house by babysitter Julie Brasington, along with Katie’s children Shannon and Harley.
The two sisters had been invited to a party and then to Ryans Hotel in the nearby town of Traralgon to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
Domaszewicz changed those plans by turning up at Bilynda’s house in Lincoln St, Moe, on the Saturday morning to ask if he could have Jaidyn for a few hours during the afternoon. She packed a blue plastic shopping bag with spare nappies, a few clothes and other items and rang Domaszewicz about 12.15pm to say Jaidyn was ready. When he arrived Bilynda asked him to drop her and Breehanna off at Katie’s house in nearby Hawker St.
When they arrived at Katie’s place, Domaszewicz stopped the car and gave Bilynda $70 and told her to have an extra special time at the pub. “I then gave Jaidyn, who was still in the car seat, a kiss. Greg then drove off,’’ Bilynda said.
That was the last time she saw her son alive.
Bilynda had asked Domaszewicz to drop Jaidyn at Katie’s house later that afternoon. She rang Domaszewicz from Katie’s home about 4pm as it was raining and she wondered whether Jaidyn needed more clothes. Domaszewicz told her not to worry as he was about to shower Jaidyn and bring him back.
During the phone call, Domaszewicz told her that a friend, Darren Farr, had told him Katie had been telling others that Domaszewicz had a vendetta against Farr and planned to kill him by Christmas. That sparked an argument between the sisters. The party plan was off and Bilynda was going home. She picked up Breehanna and they walked up the hill in the rain to her house.
“I tried to ring Greg for ages to say `I am not at Katie’s bring Jaidyn to me’, but I couldn’t get hold of him,’’ she said.
Bilynda claimed, in a statement to police, that she tried to ring Domaszewicz at his home about 20 times between about 5.30pm and 7.45pm to tell him not to drop Jaidyn off at Katie’s place, but to bring him home as the plan had changed.
She was unable to get through to Domaszewicz, but she did speak to Katie and the pair made up and renewed plans to go to the party. Katie and her boyfriend picked Bilynda up about 8pm to drive to the party at Steve Morrison’s house in Traralgon. She initially protested about leaving as she still hadn’t been able to find out where Jaidyn was, but she eventually relented and they left.
Bilynda had a few quick drinks at the party before arriving at Ryans Hotel just before 11pm.
“As soon as I walked in I picked up the phone and called Greg,’’ she said in a statement to police.
“I spoke to Greg this time and asked how Jaidyn was. He said it was not good news and that he’d been burnt. I asked how did he get burnt and Greg said he’d leaned up against the heater. Greg said he took Jaidyn to casualty and they put cream on Jaidyn’s bum. He said he didn’t think they’d done a good enough job so he took him to Maryvale and he was in hospital there.
“Greg said I should stay and have a good time, but I told him I wanted to come home. He said to ring back later and he’d come and pick me up.’’
Bilynda immediately told her sister Katie what Domaszewicz had said and insisted she wanted to go home. Katie said it was probably just one of Domaszewicz’s sick jokes and that she would ring and check. She called him and came back seconds later to reassure Bilynda that Domaszewicz had been joking and that he had told her to make sure Bilynda had a good time.
Reluctantly, Bilynda stayed for another three hours before drunkenly ringing Domaszewicz again about 2am and asking him to pick her up from the hotel.
As Domaszewicz was making arrangements to collect her he was unaware of strange goings on outside his home. Hiding in shrubbery along a railway siding, across from Domaszewicz’s house, were Yvonne Penfold’s older brother Kenny and her ex-fiance, Darrin Wilson.
Penfold was carrying the severed head of a pig and several rocks. Wilson was armed with an axe handle. Both had revenge on their minds. They planned to give Domaszewicz a scare in retaliation for his split with Yvonne and subsequent treatment of her.
The pig’s head was a message Domaszewicz would understand.
Greg used to have a pet pig called Stimpy. He had raised it from a tiny piglet to a whopping beast that dwarfed his three bull terriers. After one of their many fights, Domaszewicz claims, Yvonne took Stimpy off to be slaughtered and brought him back as pork chops.
“Yvonne murdered him,’’ Domaszewicz said. “I’ve still got a piece of him in me freezer. He was a good pig. Pigs are good animals. Stimpy, call him once and he would come on his four hooves, locking up at your feet, always.’’
Yvonne told the Herald Sun that Domaszewicz agreed Stimpy had to go. “We both decided Stimpy had got too big and we drove him off to be slaughtered together,’’ she said. “I have a picture of us taking him off to be killed.’’
Kenny knew that a severed pig’s head would remind Domaszewicz of Yvonne and hoped he would take it as a warning to stop treating her badly.
Kenny and friends Ken Boon and Raymond “Tubby’’ Hopkinson took the pig — named Darren Millane after the legendary Collingwood footballer — out to scrubland in Walhalla Rd, Moe, the day before Jaidyn disappeared. “I used a butcher’s knife from my place to cut the pig’s throat and kill it,’’ Kenny said. “I cut its head off and gutted it. I then took the body home to my place and hung it in my shower in the house. I didn’t kill it at home because of the mess and the noise that they make when you kill a pig.’’
The following night, Kenny and Darrin Wilson watched Domaszewicz’s house, waiting for the right moment to attack. “I saw the front door open and Greg came out of the house,’’ Kenny said. “He walked to his green wheelie rubbish bin at the front of the house and put something in it, then walked back into his house.’’
Police later found five tissues in a plastic bag in the bin. DNA tests revealed the tissues had Jaidyn’s blood on them. Some had been twisted in such a way as to indicate they were used to pack a nose or ears to stop bleeding.
“Greg was in the house for no more than two minutes when he came back out and got into his car and drove off,’’ Kenny said. As soon as Domaszewicz left, the pair proceeded with their attack. They smashed windows at the front of the house and twice attempted to throw the pig’s head through a window, but it bounced off each time. Kenny told police he and Wilson left after smashing the windows and ran up the road towards Moe.
Detectives quickly eliminated the pig’s head throwers from the investigation into Jaidyn’s disappearance. They interviewed a number of people who saw Kenny Penfold and Wilson as they made their way from Domaszewicz’s house to where they had arranged for Yvonne to pick them up by car. The witnesses told police neither man was carrying a baby. The pair also drew attention to themselves by throwing stones at teenagers Paul Reid and John Sellens and intimidated Daniel Halstead by screaming “Boo’’ in the terrified youth’s face. Police argue that these are hardly the actions of kidnappers.
About the time his house was attacked, Domaszewicz arrived at Ryans Hotel to pick up Bilynda — sometime between 2.20am and 2.40am. It was about a 20-minute drive to the hotel.
“I got in Greg’s car and I asked why Jaidyn wasn’t in his car seat,’’ Bilynda said in a statement to police. “Greg said he’d told me Jaidyn was in hospital.’’
Bilynda asked to go to the hospital to see Jaidyn, but Domaszewicz, who had given the already inebriated Bilynda a can of bourbon and coke to drink on the drive back to Moe, persuaded her she was too drunk and that it would create the impression she was a bad mother if she turned up in that condition.
Domaszewicz and Bilynda arrived back at his house about 3am to discover the smashed windows and the pig’s head in the front garden. He immediately thought Yvonne Penfold must have been involved. They had a history of damaging each other’s property.
“I told Greg to ring the cops a few times and picked up the phone once and Greg said he wasn’t a rat,’’ Bilynda said.
Telephone records reveal Domaszewicz rang Yvonne’s mobile phone at 3.09am and during a 17-second conversation he claims he screamed at her, “This is one of your sick games’’.
Domaszewicz and Bilynda then drove to her house, taking a detour past Yvonne’s house on the way. Although Yvonne’s car was in the drive, and the house lights were on, they did not stop. They arrived at Bilynda’s home about 3.20am. Domaszewicz left almost immediately, telling Bilynda he was going to try to find out who had damaged his house.
Within minutes, Domaszewicz was stopped by police. Senior Constables Farnham Molesworth and Matthew Georgeson had seen his car travelling quickly and pulled him over at 3.35am for a licence check and preliminary breath test. Despite the opportunity, Domaszewicz did not tell the officers about the pig’s head or that Jaidyn was supposedly missing. He was allowed to go after a negative blood-alcohol reading.
Bilynda had fallen asleep on the floor in front of the heater almost immediately after she and Domaszewicz arrived. The next thing she remembers was a distressed Domaszewicz shaking her awake about 100 minutes later at 5am.
“He said: `Jaidyn’s not in hospital. I lied to you. We have to go to the police, he’s been abducted’,“ Bilynda said.
“I almost laughed. I don’t know how many times I had heard Greg say aliens abducted his dogs or aliens had abducted him, but from the look on Greg’s face, I knew he wasn’t joking this time.
“He was cuddling me and crying and saying sorry. I asked him why he told me he took Jaidyn to the hospital and he said he was stupid for saying that and Jaidyn was really on the couch but he didn’t want me to know that he’d left Jaidyn at home so that when we got home from Traralgon I would see that Jaidyn was asleep on the couch and everything would be OK.’’
Bilynda soon discovered everything was far from OK. Stunned, she got back in Domaszewicz’s car and headed to Moe police station to report the kidnapping of her son.
The officer who earlier breath-tested Domaszewicz was at the front counter when Domaszewicz and Bilynda walked in to report Jaidyn’s disappearance at 5.18am on the Sunday morning.
Senior Constable Molesworth asked Domaszewicz what the problem was. “We have a kidnapping,’’ Domaszewicz said. “I went to pick up my girlfriend and when I got back someone had smashed all my windows and there is a pig’s head outside the window.’’
An incredulous Senior Constable Molesworth asked who had been kidnapped and was told it was Bilynda’s baby. Domaszewicz admitted he had left Jaidyn home alone, saying he didn’t want to wake the boy and take him out of the warm house and into a cold car seat.
Senior Constable Molesworth called over the officer-in-charge, Sergeant Maxwell Hill. Sgt Hill soon formed the opinion that he had a murder on his hands and arranged for the homicide squad to be notified. He based his decision on conflicting stories by Domaszewicz and Bilynda in those first few vital hours.
Sgt Hill said in his evidence at Domaszewicz’s trial that he also took into account Domaszewicz’s “disposition and the way he looked to me when he first came to the counter’’.
After a few minutes, Sgt Hill took Bilynda into another interview room, leaving Domaszewicz where he was.
“On leaving this room, I activated the exhaust fan to create noise, which would prevent Domaszewicz from overhearing other conversations,’’ Sgt Hill said. “Each of the interview room doors were closed for this purpose. A short time later, I left the interview room where Bilynda was seated and saw Domaszewicz sitting in the original interview room just inside the door, which was partly open. Domaszewicz was leaning forward on a seat and appeared to be eavesdropping. The exhaust fan had been switched off.’’
Sgt Hill switched the fan back on, telling him the room would get stuffy otherwise, shut the door and told Domaszewicz to keep it shut. He went back to Bilynda and within a few minutes heard the door to Domaszewicz’s room open again. The policeman went back into Domaszewicz’s room at 6.29am and interviewed him until 7.16am.
After the interview ended that Sunday afternoon, Domaszewicz was held in custody until 2am on Monday to give police time to set up surveillance on him. Police hoped that on being released he would lead them to Jaidyn.
Instead, as undercover police followed, he went looking for Bilynda to assure her he had nothing to do with Jaidyn’s disappearance — and she welcomed him into her home.
Domaszewicz’s second formal interview was with the homicide squad over seven hours on the Thursday, four days after Jaidyn was reported missing. It was recorded on video and lasted from 3.38pm until 10.37 that night.
Det-Sgt Michael Roberts conducted the interview. Det-Sgt Stephen Fyffe and Sen-Det. Paul Edwards were also present. They raised a number of the anomalies, inconsistencies and omissions in the first interview.
Domaszewicz was a lot more positive about issues such as when he told Bilynda about Jaidyn being burnt and in hospital, and how she hadn’t initially been worried about Jaidyn when she saw his damaged house because she believed he was in hospital.
He also pointed the finger much more strongly at Yvonne Penfold, saying she once called Bilynda and told her to check on her children. When Bilynda checked, the children had been switched in their beds. Bilynda confirmed this incident.
Domaszewicz also said his initial reluctance to report Jaidyn’s disappearance to police stemmed from his mistrust of them because Yvonne was allegedly sleeping with a senior Moe officer. (The officer, Sgt Russell Fraser, later told the Supreme Court he was a family friend of the Penfolds and had not had a sexual relationship with Yvonne).
Almost four weeks later, on July 16, 1997, Domaszewicz was charged with Jaidyn’s murder. His two-month trial in the Supreme Court more than a year later was major news. A succession of Moe characters in the witness box guaranteed newspaper and television coverage.
It was a key tactic of Domaszewicz’s senior defence lawyer, Colin Lovitt, QC, to throw up as many alternate killers as he could in the hope of implanting doubt in the minds of jurors about his client’s involvement. Mr Lovitt, who has appeared in more than 130 murder trials and is one of Australia’s most experienced defence barristers, knew that if even one juror thought that maybe Mr X or Miss Y did it then that could be enough to have Domaszewicz acquitted as jurors have to be convinced beyond reasonable doubt before finding a person guilty.
Domaszewicz’s defence team — made up of Mr Lovitt and solicitors Michael Rafter and John Lee — believed Raymond “Tubby’’ Hopkinson’s outbursts in court played a big part in putting doubt in jurors’ minds about who murdered Jaidyn. They also believe Kenny Penfold’s performance helped their client’s case. Both men became angry and abused Mr Lovitt while he was questioning them.
Mr Lovitt suggested to the jury that there was a reasonable possibility that a “sadistic and deranged’’ Hopkinson took Jaidyn. The Rumpolesque barrister also pointed the finger at “the pig’s head team’’ of Kenny and Yvonne Penfold, Yvonne’s former fiance Darrin Wilson and Dean Ross.
“Who is more likely to have gratuitously injured Jaidyn Leskie or panicked when they found that he had been accidentally injured?’’ Mr Lovitt asked the jury. “Greg Domaszewicz or a fellow like Tubby Hopkinson, Ken Penfold? Who is more likely to find the child as being just an inconvenience, a nuisance, something that we have got to do something about?’’
The first signs of touchiness by Hopkinson emerged within minutes of Mr Lovitt starting his cross-examination. Mr Lovitt asked him if he could remember the date of the killing of the pig whose head was used in the attack on Domaszewicz’s house.
“Do you expect me to remember when I had my first tongue kiss?’’ Hopkinson responded.
Justice Frank Vincent asked Hopkinson to relax and just “answer the questions’’.
Mr Lovitt asked Hopkinson if he had ever had medication for schizophrenia (traces of a drug used by schizophrenia sufferers was found in Jaidyn’s body).
Hopkinson: “No, because I’m not a schizophrenic, no. You’re trying to say I’m a schizophrenic. I’ve been tested and all the results came back clean, mate, you know. So what do you want? Where’s your high horse? ... I’ve been given medication once by doctors. I OD’d on that.’’
Mr Lovitt: “What, deliberately or accidentally?’’
Hopkinson: “I don’t know.’’
Mr Lovitt: “Just swallowed the lot, did you?’’
Hopkinson: “I don’t know. Had a couple too many, whoops, and that’s when these so-called schizophrenic spasm attacks came along.’’
Mr Lovitt: “Tell us about those. I didn’t mention the word spasm, you did. Tell us about the schizophrenic spasm attacks.’’
Hopkinson: “You’re a spaz, that’s what I class as a spaz.’’
Mr Lovitt: “I’m having a bad run today, Your Honour. Apart from your diagnosis of me, tell us about these schizophrenic ...’’
Hopkinson: “You’re f … … pi … … me off.’’
Mr Lovitt: “I’m sorry but ...’’
Hopkinson: “What happened to me, what I done to myself is nothing to f … … do with you, you know. Now you’re trying to tell me I’m a schizophrenic, mate. What are you on? I don’t know. I read the papers. I get told I’m a f … … amphetamines abuser, drug user, dealer, standover merchant — lucky I even turned up here today, mate, you know.’’
At the end of Hopkinson’s evidence, and after the jury had left the court, Justice Vincent said he was not comfortable with counsel being subjected to that kind of language and abuse. He said Mr Lovitt had been subjected to nasty and grossly offensive comments by both Hopkinson and Kenny Penfold.
“However, I judged that in the circumstances you (Mr Lovitt) are big enough and mature enough to be able to look after yourself,’’ Justice Vincent said.
All those nominated as suspects by Domaszewicz’s defence team have denied playing any part in the disappearance and murder of Jaidyn.
Domaszewicz continues to proclaim his innocence and does so in an unpublished book he wrote during the 17 months he was behind bars awaiting trial.
The Herald Sun has obtained a copy of Domaszewicz’s manuscript.
Called The Babysitter’s Story, it blames the after-effects of his stormy relationship with Yvonne Penfold for his predicament. Domaszewicz chronicles the gradual demise of the relationship. He claims she was having sex with at least one local policeman. He says his distrust of police in the area prompted him to initially try to sort Jaidyn’s disappearance himself.
“Between the Penfolds and especially the police department, I have been so poorly treated and injustice has been done,’’ Domaszewicz wrote.
“The police believed Yvonne and shafted me. They always turned everything around to make me look bad and that’s why I could never trust them bastards.’’
The manuscript alleged police fabricated evidence against him. It explained how he liked the look of Yvonne Penfold the first time he saw her in a Moe nightclub.
“I asked her if she wanted to come back to my house. She immediately said OK. We began walking for a while, but then I had to holler a taxi. On arrival back at my house we had a few drinks and, to be honest, had so much fun. Not sexually, just good old fun. It was great,“ Domaszewicz said.
“Me and Yvonne just seemed to get on so well. She loved my dogs and I could feel she was a very, sort of, country girl. Old-fashioned to some degree and slutty, which I really like in a woman.“
That first night was the start of a tempestuous partnership that lasted several years. They lived together for more than two years.
The manuscript includes a chapter on what Domaszewicz says he did with Jaidyn the day the toddler disappeared. On arriving home with Jaidyn he said he changed the child’s clothing because it was damp from sitting in a wet car seat. The pair played a Star Wars game on the Nintendo machine for a while before going outside to work on Domaszewicz’s car.
“When me and Jaidyn went outside the dogs were waiting, as usual, to play, as Jaidyn was,’’ Domaszewicz wrote.
“So we played ball with the dogs for a while. I then thought sh.t, I better fix the car before it rains again. I open the shed door so as to let Jaidyn stay outside with me under shelter in case it rained again. I crawled to the front driver’s side floor of the car to look under the dash to work out what was wrong with the heater, as the fan worked but didn’t blow hot air anywhere. It had begun to rain again, so me and Jaidyn went inside.
“I got him some chips and some chocolate freckles, which I had purchased from the Tattslotto shop, and watched TV for a little while, waiting for it to stop raining. I did not like Jaidyn being inside alone in case he went to the cupboard and sprayed himself with deodorant or something.’’
Domaszewicz wrote that his friend Darren Farr phoned and said he had heard somebody was going to kill either Domaszewicz or him by Christmas.
“He heard me say something either about Jaidyn being there or that Jaidyn was about to walk into the bathroom as I didn’t like him being in there because of the chemicals and the broken glass of the shower Yvonne had broke,’’ the manuscript says.
“He definitely knew Jaidyn was at my house. I talked not for long as me and Darren had been fighting for quite a while over my things and such and I hung up on him. I went back outside to finish things on the car. It must have been getting around 4.30-4.45pm. I went out to stop the bloody squeaky front end by jacking it up in front and spraying bushes with WD40.’’
Domaszewicz wrote that the jack he used was faulty and that when he went back out a little while later it had let itself down and he had to jack the car back up.
It should be remembered that police found wet money under Domaszewicz’s mattress — and a soaked wallet — when they searched his home immediately after Jaidyn disappeared.
Domaszewicz writes in his book that his wallet was pushed out of his pocket as he moved in and out of the car and got wet. He noticed it still had money in it from the sale of a boat, so he went inside and hid the money under his bed.
He went back to work on the car for a while before coming back inside the house to clean Jaidyn up.
“I had given him some greasy bolts to play with so he would get mechanics’ hands, so when Bilynda had come over she would see her boy’s dirty,’’ the manuscript says.
Domaszewicz wrote that he rang Bilynda’s sister’s house sometime during the evening to see what time Bilynda was coming around.
“Julie the babysitter told me they already left a while ago and I said that I would keep Jaidyn for the night, there was no problem with this,“ he said.
“I rang Marianne (a neighbour) to ask if she had any spare nappies as there weren’t any, or not many, left for Jaidyn and I couldn’t be bothered moving my car from the back yard to the front and then to the shop. I told her I was staying home and would wait for Boo (his nickname for Bilynda) to ring.’’
Domaszewicz wrote that he left Jaidyn at home asleep when Bilynda rang about 2am and asked to be picked up from the Traralgon pub. On the drive back to Moe, he claims he again told Bilynda that Jaidyn was in hospital with burns.
When they arrived back at his house they noticed a smashed window.
“I thought `Oh my God someone could’ve moly toffed (sic) cocktailed my house and it could’ve burnt with Jaidyn inside’,’’ Domaszewicz wrote.
“I opened the door and didn’t see or hear Jaidyn. I just tripped. I couldn’t believe it. Me and Boo came inside and I quickly looked around without trying to blow Boo out too much. I then rang Yvonne up as I knew she and others were behind everything. I hung up on her and took Boo home.
“Back at her house she didn’t want to let me go very much and made me take her key so I would come back. I finally left and was coming home when the cops pulled me over. I said nothing to them as they have never believed me or helped me in any way previously, and if we both returned to my house and Jaidyn was in the lounge room I knew they would have charged me with making a false statement or something.
“I got back to my house at around 3.45-4am and looked properly for Jaidyn. I looked all around the house and even let the dogs in to help. There was no sign of Jaidyn. I was just tripping by now.
“I drove to Yvonne’s house and pulled up around the corner in Hunter St. I ran around to Yvonne’s and all the lights were on ... I looked under the curtains but couldn’t see anyone or anything. Her car, the XL Falcon, was there in the driveway, but I didn’t even check to see if the motor was warm or not.
“I then drove to Bilynda’s house to wake her up, which took a bit of doing as she is a heavy sleeper and being drunk ... She got up and dressed a bit, got her bearings and we went to the police station after I explained what had happened truthfully, and that’s that.’’
Domaszewicz’s manuscript reveals he was stoned when Jaidyn disappeared and that he lied to police about his drug-taking that night.
In police interviews he consistently claimed he hadn’t taken any drugs while babysitting the toddler. He told police he hadn’t even had any alcohol, other than one mouthful from a stubby of bourbon and coke. But in his manuscript he admits that he smoked marijuana a number of times in the hours before Jaidyn disappeared.
Domaszewicz wrote that at 8.30 on that Saturday night he had rejected an offer from a neighbour to go to her house to share “a couple’’. This was his term for smoking marijuana through a bong.
The manuscript goes on to say he then had “a couple’’ by himself while he and Jaidyn watched television and played Nintendo. Domaszewicz then admitted to having smoked more marijuana soon after Bilynda rang him about 11pm. “I was bored because Jaidyn was asleep and there was nobody to talk to,’’ he wrote.
Bilynda’s campaign for a public inquest started in May 2002 after she received a letter telling her that deputy coroner Iain West had effectively ended the investigation into Jaidyn’s death by holding a closed-door inquiry that produced a two-page report which simply regurgitated previously known facts about the case. Bilynda was outraged.
“I didn’t need a piece of paper to tell me my son’s cause of death was head injuries. I was well aware of that, but Jaidyn didn’t break then bandage his own arm. Jaidyn didn’t bang his head and take his own life,“ Bilynda said.
“Nor did he fill his body with the drug benzhexol, tie himself to a crowbar and throw himself into Blue Rock Dam. Someone else did, and it’s hard to sleep at night knowing that person walks in our community each and every day.”
Bilynda wrote passionate letters to the then State Coroner Graeme Johnstone and the then Attorney-General Rob Hulls asking that the decision be overturned and a public inquest ordered.
She wanted people to be questioned. She wanted DNA tests to be done on suspects. She wanted to know who killed her beloved Jaidyn.
“In Mr West’s statement he states Jaidyn was born on the 17th of April, 1996,“ Bilynda’s 2002 letter to Mr Hulls said.
“Doesn’t that show how poorly Mr West’s investigation was when Jaidyn was in fact born on the 30th of April, 1996?
“I strongly believe that the Coroner has not investigated my son’s death to a satisfactory degree and therefore request the Attorney-General to now request that the Coroner Mr Graeme Johnstone hold a public coronial inquest into the death of my son Jaidyn Leskie.
“Get us all back in the witness box, put us all on trial. Please Mr Hulls, live mine and Breehanna’s life for just one day. I had a son and she had a brother, now we don’t. And we don’t know why.
“I think we deserve an explanation and a chance to ask questions because Breehanna and I lived with Jaidyn every single day of his life and we have missed him every single day since.
“After I buried my little boy, I promised him justice, you are my last hope of not breaking that promise to my son. I hope and pray with everything I have left that you will help me. But if you won’t do it for me at least do it for Jaidyn.’’
Mr Hulls personally rang Bilynda in July 2003 to tell her Mr Johnstone would hold a full inquest later that year.
Domaszewicz thwarted that inquest by winning a Supreme Court battle in December 2004 to stop the Leskie inquest on the grounds the coroner relied on the wrong section of the Coroner’s Act when he began the inquest in November 2003.
Mr Johnstone opened a new Leskie inquest under the correct legislation in July 2005.
The Leskie inquest heard evidence from more than 50 witnesses over 26 sitting days.
In his opening address, former Attorney-General Jim Kennan, SC, claimed there was evidence of Domaszewicz mistreating Jaidyn in the weeks before his death.
He said Domaszewicz even labelled his supposedly beloved Jaidyn a “mongoloid’’.
Mr Kennan, who was counsel assisting the coroner, told the inquest that evidence would be called that Domaszewicz sometimes pushed Jaidyn over for no apparent reason.
“On one occasion he took Jaidyn on a fishing trip to Blue Rock Dam and dropped him, causing facial injuries,’’ Mr Kennan said.
“On another occasion Bilynda says that Mr Domaszewicz told her Jaidyn wouldn’t get into his car seat and that he lost it, banging his head against the car.’’
Mr Kennan said there was evidence that Kim Wilson, a neighbour of Bilynda, saw Domaszewicz’s car parked outside Bilynda’s house just after midnight on the night Jaidyn disappeared.
He went on to say Domaszewicz’s neighbour Maryanne McKinnon heard Domaszewicz’s car, or a car that made the same distinctive noise, start up and drive off sometime between midnight and 1am — yet Domaszewicz insisted he was home all night until leaving to pick up Bilynda about 2am.
Mr Kennan then made a point of saying Bilynda noticed the day after Jaidyn disappeared that his cot and bed clothes were disturbed.
He went on to say that Bilynda was adamant the cot was neatly made up when Domaszewicz drove away with Jaidyn the previous afternoon.
The significance of Mr Kennan pointing out the movement of Domaszewicz and his car and the rumpled cot is that these things fit in with a police theory.
Respected veteran homicide squad detective Rowland Legg explained this theory during Domaszewicz’s 1998 trial.
That theory is that Domaszewicz allegedly killed Jaidyn and came up with a plan to make it look as though Bilynda did it.
Sen-Sgt Legg alleged Mr Domaszewicz drove from his house to Bilynda’s house about midnight and put Jaidyn’s body in his cot.
When Bilynda rang to be picked up about 2am he took bourbon and coke with him for her to drink on the way home, just to make sure she was on the point of collapse.
Bilynda has given evidence that when she asked about Jaidyn, Domaszewicz had repeated an earlier claim that he was in hospital after having burned himself.
Sen-Sgt Legg’s theory — as explained in court — is that Domaszewicz’s intention was to put the drunken Bilynda to bed and leave her to find Jaidyn’s body the next morning in the hope she would either wake and think that in her stupor she had done it, or that police would think she had anyway.
He alleged Domaszewicz only changed his mind when they called at his house before going to her house.
His windows had been smashed and a pig’s head was on his front lawn.
Realising the “pig’s head gang’’ would be even more believable as killers of Jaidyn than Bilynda — so the theory goes — Domaszewicz allegedly went back to Bilynda’s house and picked up Jaidyn’s body, forgetting to return the sheets to their pristine made-up state as he did so. He then drove to Blue Rock Dam and dumped the body before returning to break the news to a sleeping Bilynda that Jaidyn wasn’t really in hospital, but was missing.
UPDATE: WHAT THE CORONER WAS TOLD AND FOUND
Mr Johnstone found in 2006 that Jaidyn’s babysitter, Greg Domaszewicz, disposed of Jaidyn’s body.
In his final submission to the inquest, former Attorney-General Jim Kennan, who was counsel assisting the coroner, said there was enough evidence to find Domaszewicz killed Jaidyn.
He ruled out all other suspects.
Mr Kennan cast doubt on Domaszewicz’s account of the 12 hours before Jaidyn disappeared.
"In our submission, it is open to the State Coroner to find that Mr Domaszewicz was involved in the disposal of the deceased’s body at the Blue Rock Dam,’’ his submission said.
Mr Kennan’s submission to the coroner, also argued:
JAIDYN was almost certainly bashed to death with a blunt instrument soon after his arm was broken.
CLAIMS by Domaszewicz’s lawyers that Jaidyn was alive for weeks after disappearing were discounted as the evidence was consistent with Jaidyn dying the day he vanished.
IT was unlikely Jaidyn was alive when Domaszewicz left his house to pick up Jaidyn’s mother about 2am, meaning the toddler was dead when Domaszewicz’s house was attacked by a group of people who threw a pig’s head at his window.
THE eight murder suspects named by Domaszewicz were all cleared of any involvement in the tot’s death.
THERE was insufficient evidence to say whether the death was intentional, accidental or a spontaneous act.
CLAIMS by three prisoners that Domaszewicz confessed to killing Jaidyn were of limited value, although the evidence of one of them, Prisoner R, was of most value because it had not been undermined in cross-examination and had been corroborated in several respects.
PRISONER R (whose name is suppressed) gave evidence that Domaszewicz told him his car fell off the jack and landed on Jaidyn’s arm and that Jaidyn was screaming so he slipped him something to calm him down (drugs were found in Jaidyn’s body). Prisoner R also claimed Domaszewicz told him he couldn’t shut Jaidyn up so he put a pillow over Jaidyn’s head and hit it with a crowbar (Jaidyn’s body was weighed down with a crowbar).
Mr Kennan’s submission to the coroner said there was no evidence that contradicted the key details of Domaszewicz’s alleged confession to Prisoner R.
He told the inquest there was no evidence of anyone seeing Jaidyn between 2pm on June 14, 1997 — when Domaszewicz started babysitting him — and 2am on June 15, when Domaszewicz was seen leaving his Moe home to drive to pick up Bilynda.
"It is unlikely that the deceased was still alive when Mr Domaszewicz left the house at approximately 2am,’’ Mr Kennan’s submission to the coroner said.
The submission said Domaszewicz’s account of the 12-hour period when he was babysitting Jaidyn had a number of curious features, including:
ALTHOUGH he said he was home during the entire 12 hours there was no witness to corroborate it. Friend Clinton McCarthy gave evidence that he arranged to pick up Domaszewicz from his home about 7.30pm to go to another friend’s house. Mr McCarthy said he rang Domaszewicz three or four times during the afternoon, but didn’t get an answer. He gave evidence that he drove to Domaszewicz’s house about 7.30pm, but didn’t stop because Domaszewicz’s car was not there. Mr McCarthy’s evidence contradicted Domaszewicz’s claim his car was parked outside at 7.30pm and that he was home. Bilynda gave evidence that she rang Domaszewicz’s home about 15 to 20 times in the late afternoon, but there was no answer. Domaszewicz’s neighbour, Marianne McKinnon, gave evidence that she rang him without success during the evening.
DOMASZEWICZ said Jaidyn didn’t eat much during the 12 hours he was with him and was not hungry during this time. This was in contrast to evidence given by Bilynda (and other statements made by Domaszewicz) that Jaidyn had a big appetite. Bilynda said Jaidyn cried when he was hungry.
ALTHOUGH Domaszewicz said he ran out of nappies by 10pm there was no evidence he bought any, despite Ms McKinnon telling him he could get nappies at a nearby service station.
DOMASZEWICZ gave a variety of accounts of Jaidyn’s whereabouts and wellbeing during conversations with Bilynda during the 12 hours. In a phone conversation with Bilynda just after 11pm he told her "s---’s happened’’ and went on to explain Jaidyn had burnt himself on the bottom and he had taken him to Moe Hospital.
Domaszewicz claimed the hospital only put some cream on so he had taken Jaidyn to another hospital for better treatment. Bilynda wanted to come home immediately, but her sister spoke to Domaszewicz again and he claimed he had just been joking.
Bilynda rang Domaszewicz again and he told her Jaidyn wasn’t burnt but had a red mark on his bottom after standing too close to the heater. When Domaszewicz picked Bilynda up from the pub between 2am and 3am he told her Jaidyn was in Maryvale Hospital, and when she asked to be taken there he refused, saying she was too drunk.
NOTHING was said to Bilynda by Domaszewicz about the absence of Jaidyn when they returned to his house after picking her up.
NOR did Domaszewicz mention Jaidyn was missing when police stopped him as he was driving alone at 3.30am after dropping Bilynda at her house.
Mr Kennan’s submission also explained why the evidence ruled out the so-called pig’s head team being involved in Jaidyn’s disappearance.
The pig’s head team consisted of Domaszewicz’s former girlfriend Yvonne Penfold, her brother Kenny Penfold, and their friends Darrin Wilson and Dean Ross.
They admitted during Domaszewicz’s trial that they attacked Domaszewicz’s house, including throwing a pig’s head at his window, after Domaszewicz left about 2am to pick up Bilynda.
Mr Kennan said there was no evidence Jaidyn was removed from Domaszewicz’s house during the short time he was out picking up Bilynda.
His submission to the coroner said:
THE house was secure, and, despite the broken windows, the evidence suggested nobody entered or exited through the windows. Every window in the house was fitted with a piece of wood to prevent it being opened. There was no sign of forced entry. There was no damage to the fallen glass inside the house that would indicate that someone had stood on it. There was no physical evidence to suggest anyone had entered through the windows.
THERE was no evidence, physical or otherwise, that any of the pig’s head team took Jaidyn from the house. Witnesses who saw Mr Penfold and Mr Wilson (the two who actually attacked the house) coming from the direction of the house did not see them carrying anything. The evidence of these witnesses suggested that neither Mr Penfold nor Mr Wilson made any attempt to remain unseen as they walked away from Domaszewicz’s house, but, to the contrary, were drawing attention to themselves by shouting and throwing rocks at passers-by.
DESPITE suggestions during Domaszewicz’s trial that Raymond Hopkinson (friend of the Penfolds) removed Jaidyn from the house, there was no evidence that placed Mr Hopkinson in the vicinity of the house.
THERE was no other individual who the evidence suggested removed Jaidyn from Domaszewicz’s house that night.
"In our submission, given this evidence, it is open to the State Coroner to find that the deceased died at Mr Domaszewicz’s house (while in Mr Domaszewicz’s care) during the late hours of June 14, 1997 or the early hours of June 15, 1997,’’ Mr Kennan said.
"It is open to the State Coroner to find that Mr Domaszewicz was involved in the disposal of the deceased’s body at the Blue Rock Dam.
"Mr Domaszewicz had the opportunity to drive to the Blue Rock Dam and dispose of the deceased’s body during the four-hour period between 10pm and 2am or during the later two-hour period between dropping Bilynda at her house and returning to tell her that the deceased was missing. We regard the lack of an explanation by Mr Domaszewicz for the wetness of both the wallet that was subsequently found in his car and the notes found under a mattress in his house, as well as the lack of an adequate explanation for his movements during the later two-hour period, as significant.
"The significance of the wetness of the wallet and notes is increased in light of the evidence of Sen-Constable Veitch that it would have been necessary to wade deep into the water at Blue Rock Dam in order to push a bundle of the weight of the deceased, attached to a crowbar of similar weight to that found near the deceased, to a distance from the shore similar to that where they were found.’’
Mr Johnstone handed down his finding in the Leskie inquest on October 4, 2006.
“It was during Mr Domaszewicz’s period of caring for Jaidyn that he died,” Mr Johnstone said.
“The cause of death is most probably from head injuries. Precisely how he died remains a matter of contention and conjecture — whether the circumstances leading to the death occurred by accident, by omission or otherwise.
“Precisely how he suffered the injuries to the arm also remains largely a matter of conjecture, other than the fact that it occurred shortly prior to death.
“However, as a helpless 14-month-old infant, requiring total support, care and protection by an adult, ultimately it was Mr Domaszewicz who failed to provide that adequate and very necessary level of protective supervision, care and support to look after the infant — otherwise he would not have received the injuries from which he died.
“Whatever happened to result in the injuries that were occasioned to Jaidyn occurred on Mr Domaszewicz’s temporary watch, thus he has contributed to the death.
“No satisfactory alternative explanation of the circumstances has been given by Mr Domaszewicz.
“After Jaidyn’s death Mr Domaszewicz disposed of his body in nearby Blue Rock Dam. Clearly, he had the opportunity and time to do so. The indicators that lead to this conclusion and comfortable satisfaction are:
(a) The last known person to see Jaidyn alive was Mr Domaszewicz;
(b) After the incident or incidents that eventually resulted in Jaidyn’s death, Mr Domaszewicz had time to dispose of the body in the dam either before collecting Ms Williams from the hotel or in the early hours of the morning of June 15 or after leaving her at her home and before they both went to the police to report that the child was missing;
(c) Mr Domaszewicz gave false explanations to Ms Williams about Jaidyn’s whereabouts and state of health both before and after she was picked up by him from the hotel;
(d) Ms Williams was not shown Jaidyn when she returned to Mr Domaszewicz’s house from the hotel (when Mr Domaszewicz says that he realised the child was missing); and
(e) Mr Domaszewicz’s wallet and money were wet (consistent with having entered the water in order to dispose of the body).
“The fact that a decision has been made that Mr Domaszewicz disposed of Jaidyn’s body does not enable any conclusion to be reached about precisely how the child died — whether by accident or otherwise.”
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