Toddler’s uncle and carer, Trevor James Thomsen, 41, sentenced for manslaughter over “blunt force trauma” injuries that led to his death

The great uncle and carer of toddler, Chase Thomsen, 23 months, has been jailed over the “blunt force trauma” injuries to the little boy’s bowel that led to sepsis and his death. Warning: Distressing content

Family members of Trevor James Thomsen leave the Cairns Supreme Court after he was sentenced to 11 years jail for the manslaughter of his two year old nephew Chase Thomsen in September 2021. Picture: Brendan Radke

The great uncle and carer of toddler, Chase Thomsen, 23 months, has been jailed over the “blunt force trauma” injuries to the little boy’s bowel that led to sepsis and his death.

Trevor James Thomsen, 41, pleaded guilty in Cairns Supreme Court to the manslaughter of Chase, who had a ruptured bowel, broken rib, sepsis, and bruising to 34 different places on his body when he died on September 27, 2021.

He was sentenced to 11 years prison.

The boy’s mother, father, grandparents, uncles and aunts wept in the court or attended the sentence by videolink, with Chase described by his aunt in a victim impact statement as “a vibrant soul, full of life and potential”.

Family members of Chase Thomsen, 23 months, leave the Cairns Supreme Court after Trevor James Thomsen, 41, was sentenced to 11 years jail for the manslaughter of his young nephew in September 2021. Picture: Brendan Radke

Crown Prosecutor Michael Lehane said the extensive injuries noted in the post mortem and pathologist reports did not match the story Thomsen told the police at the time – that he had tripped over the boy the night before his death and accidentally kneed his tummy.

Thomsen, a father of two adult children himself, was the boy’s great uncle and also his legal guardian at the time of his death, the court was told.

Mr Lehane said Chase was placed in Thomsen’s care by the Department of Child Safety in February 2021 – some eight months before the boy’s death – and they lived there with Thomsen’s partner, his teenage son, and his adult son and partner, and their two children.

Mr Lehane said the night before Chase died, Thomsen and his partner hosted a barbecue for family and friends, and the people there observed that Chase appeared to be “having a good time”, but was also falling over often, running into things, and had vomited up his food.

Prosecutors David Jenkins and Michael Lehane leaves the Cairns Supreme Court after the sentencing of Trevor James Thomsen, who pleaded guilty to the manslaughter if gus two year old nephew Chase Thomsen in September 2021. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Lehane said the most serious of the boy’s injuries were said to be caused by “blunt force trauma” inflicted at least 24 hours earlier, but possibly up to eight days earlier, and were likely to have caused the symptoms observed by family members at the barbecue.

“The amount of force needed to cause bowel rupture is significant – an intruding blow – a punch or kick … Chase had extensive bruising consistent with abuse to his ear, torso, lower rib cage and the fleshy part of his cheek and jawline,” Mr Lehane said.

“ (Thomsen’s) claims of having accidentally kneed Chase in the stomach were a lie told out of the consciousness of guilt.”

Mr Lehane said Thomsen called the ambulance around 4am, the day after the barbecue and the boy was pronounced dead at Cairns Hospital around 5am.

He was arrested in April 2023, and hid from the police in a cupboard when they came to the house.

Defence barrister James Sheridan said Thomsen began using meth in 2021/2022 – around the same time he took in Chase – to cope with the death of his twin sister, and had worked his way up to a half-to-one-gram a day habit by the time he killed his young nephew.

He said Thomsen had written a letter of remorse and had made attempts in prison to get support for his drug addiction and other issues.

Justice James Henry said Thomsen’s conduct was “extremely serious”.

Pathologists who examined Chase Thomsen’s body found he had a ruptured bowel, sepsis, broken rib, and marks or bruises to 34 different parts of his body when he died.

“You must have had some warning that you were failing to keep proper control of yourself and you did nothing about disowning your role (as Chase’s carer),” Justice Henry said.

“The post mortem report showed that his body bore quite an extraordinary number of bruises – it lists a total of 34 areas on the body,” Justice Henry said, noting that some of the bruising was likely caused by falls and other factors.

“His friends and family will never know what life Chase may have ended up having … his death has caused untold grief and no words can ever capture the impact of an offence of this kind but among those words mentioned by his family are disbelief, nightmares, isolation, horror, hindsight, heartbreak, hurt, ‘what ifs’, pain, distress, giving up one’s job, overwhelming sorrow, and memories of joy of Chase.

“Carers must safely cocoon their infants from stressors (in life) rather than succumb to them. Such conduct is abhorred by the community.”

Originally published as Toddler’s uncle and carer, Trevor James Thomsen, 41, sentenced for manslaughter over “blunt force trauma” injuries that led to his death