Leeanne Eatts’ manslaughter trial over death of sons: Day 4

A manslaughter trial jury has heard the anguished cries of a mother begging for her children to come back to life on police bodyworn camera footage after their lifeless bodies were found in the river.

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

A manslaughter trial jury has heard the anguished cries of a mother begging for her children to come back to life after hearing the news that her five-year-old had drowned.

“Oh no! What am I gonna do … I feel so sick, I want them back, I want them back,” cried Leeanne Chrysilla Eatts.

Her absolute despair and desperation were captured on a police body-worn camera in the early hours of February 26, 2019, about 13 hours after her two boys went missing.

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.

Townsville Police Sergeant Robert James Pagett told the Supreme Court that he informed Eatts that her son Barak had been found in a gully beside the Ross River at 4.30am, and she could be heard crying out on the audio of his camera.

“I’ve gotta take ‘em home, I’m not gonna bury them here. I’ve gotta take them home. It’s not my fault, but I’ve gotta deal with this,” Eatts said on the recording.

Acting Sergeant Darren Milton, who was stationed at Townsville City as a constable in 2019, said he was a trained land search and rescue officer who became involved in organising a systematic search for the two missing boys.

He said he approached the SES for volunteers at 11pm on February 25, 2019, then divided the area into zones, with a command post established in Cranbrook Park.

“At 4.27am we were told there had been a sighting by Ross River so another constable and I went to the location and he shone his torch into the water,” he said.

“I shone my torch at the same spot and I could see a child floating in the water, just slightly beneath the surface, and we could see a red T-shirt.”

Sgt Milton said the body was identified as Barak Austral.

Leeanne Eatts. Picture: Alix Sweeney

The court heard that at 5.27am a second body was located, submerged in heavy reeds on the opposite side of the gully, and this boy had no clothing.

He was identified as Jhulio Sariago.

As this evidence was being delivered in the court, Leeanne Eatts was sobbing with her head bowed, in the dock, as were female relatives sitting behind her.

Earlier, Senior Constable Michael Langer, who was then stationed at Kirwan Police Station, told the court he was on an afternoon shift on the day of the double drowning and arrived at the Eatts home at 7.39pm.

He said Eatts told him that she had been looking for her two sons who had gone missing and she had last seen them about 5.30pm.

He said he had searched along the banks of the gully and found them to be full of debris and foliage as well as muddy and very slippery.

Sen Const. Langer said his search was fruitless and he went back to doorknocking neighbours as the search for the boys widened.

The jury sent a request to Justice David North asking for an inspection of the scene around the Eatts’ former home in Brett Street, Cranbrook, and the gully and the river.

Justice North agreed and said a bus had been organised to take them to the site on Monday, then warned them that things could look vastly different from the flood-ravaged river surrounds as they were in 2019.

The case will continue next week with evidence from the fathers of the two boys and may conclude by Thursday or Friday.

Originally published as Leeanne Eatts’ manslaughter trial over death of sons: Day 4