Arrest of dead boys’ mum puts heat on agency

Mother’s shock arrest over sons’ drowning has led to demands for a probe into DOCS.

Father of Jhulio, Nathan Sariago, visits a memorial for the boys. Picture: Alix Sweeney

The shock arrest of a mother over the drowning deaths of her two young sons has led to demands for an investigation into the child safety department’s role in monitoring the family.

A crying Leeann Eatts, 47, covered her face with a cloth as she was driven to Townsville watch house yesterday to be charged with two counts of manslaughter over the deaths of her sons Barak Austral, 5, and Jhulio Sariago, 3. She was also charged with separate and unrelated drugs charges.

The two boys had wandered away from the family’s home at Cranbrook on February 25, and were found dead the next morning in the nearby Ross River.

The Weekend Australian understands there have been allegations Ms Eatts was the victim of domestic violence that may have led to the involvement of police at the house.

Aboriginal academic Gracelyn Smallwood, a professor of nursing and midwifery at Central Queensland University, said the Queensland Department of Child Safety had questions to answer.

“If these allegations are true, then DOCS have failed in their duty of care to take action to ­ensure the safety of these children,’’ she said.

Police will allege the boys were regularly left unattended by their mother. Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Miles, ­ of Townsville Child Protection and Investigation Unit, alleged the deaths were a preventable tragedy as a ­result of gross negligence.

“We have preferred the charges of manslaughter,’’ Sergeant Miles said.

“We have done that because our investigation has identified there has been a gross negligence and failure on the part of the mother.

“This is an investigation that revolves around the care of these young boys and what led to their tragic passing. This is a catastrophic result for this family and it is a preventable tragedy.’’

Detective Miles claimed: “There is no way these young boys would have been left the way they were … certainly their deaths under appropriate supervision and management by a parent would have been averted.”

Ms Eatts was also charged with trafficking dangerous drugs, supplying drugs to a minor, possessing drugs, permitting a place to be used in the commission of a drug offence and unlicensed driving. She will appear before Townsville Magistrates Court today.

An amber alert was issued following the boys’ disappearance about 5.30pm from their backyard, triggering a massive search effort involving more than 100 ­locals. Their bodies were found submerged metres apart in the swollen river less than 300m from home just before 5am the next day.

Following the discovery of the boys’ bodies, Ms Eatts told The Courier-Mail she felt like she was in a movie.

“I feel like I’m in a horror movie and I can’t get out of it yet,” she said.

“I can’t even explain it. I’ve had a rough four years but this feeling — I’ve never felt this type of ­feeling before, it’s like a black hole, like something’s missing, like someone ripped a hole out of me.

“I just broke down. I was sitting there by myself and police went for one more look and I just started feeling empty, literally like someone was ripping my insides out — I wanted them to come home to mummy. But they didn’t come home.”

A big crowd-funding effort was launched to transport the boys’ bodies to Darwin so they could be buried in country. They had shared ancestral ties to Arnhem Land, the Tiwi Islands and Daly River.

Their funeral was held on March 25, with the pair sharing a single white coffin.