Coronial inquest into death of Townsville baby Matthew Riley Baxter wraps up

Complex medical evidence will be reviewed by the coroner in a decade-long quest to uncover the reasons for the death of a baby after the boy’s father was twice acquitted of killing the newborn.

Newborn baby Matthew Riley Baxter died in 2011. Picture: Roanne Johnson

Complex medical evidence will be reviewed by the Far Northern Coroner in a decade-long quest to uncover the reasons for the death of a baby after the boy’s father was twice acquitted of killing the newborn.

Six-week-old baby Matthew Riley Baxter died in Townsville Hospital on November 6, 2011. His father Nicholas Aaron Baxter, from Townsville, was originally charged with murder following the death.

In 2017, Mr Baxter was acquitted of murder by a jury but found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

He was convicted and sentenced to nine years behind bars but in 2019 the conviction was overturned at a judge-only retrial in 2021 and Mr Baxter was found not guilty of manslaughter by Justice David North.

Townsville father Nicholas Aaron Baxter leaves Townsville courthouse in 2021.

On Monday at an inquest into Matthew Riley Baxter’s death, closing submissions were heard by Far Northern Coroner Stephanie Williams in Cairns.

The court heard lengthy and detailed submissions from solicitor Matt Jackson representing Mr Baxter, including conflicting opinions of various medical experts about the cause of baby Matthew’s death.

In regard to retinal haemorrhages suffered by the baby, Mr Jackson said injuries remain the subject of conjecture.

“It’s a theory within a theory,” he said.

Mr Jackson also mentioned unreliable literature on the subject of shaking baby syndrome and differing views on what injuries could be consistent with the shaking death of an infant.

“The submission is that there still remains controversy, even at that broader level … and terms (have been) changed to reflect that controversy,” he said.

The unreliability, according to Mr Jackson’s submission, included a Crown witness who was sceptical that shaking a baby can produce the kind of injuries suffered by baby Matthew, while other doctors were “clinging to the theory” that head trauma was the cause of death.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeffrey Hunter KC, leaves the Coroners Court in Brisbane earlier this year. Picture: NewsWire

In reply, counsel assisting the coroner Jeffrey Hunter KC told the court multiple factors could have combined to cause the death.

“At this end of the bar table we don’t say that shaking alone caused what happened to Matthew,” he said.

“It may well be that there was impact involved on a soft surface, of which there would undoubtedly have been many within this home that did not leave an injury, or at least not leave an external injury that was actually seen by anybody else.”

Ms Williams adjourned the inquest on Monday afternoon and will deliver her findings at a later date.

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Originally published as Coronial inquest into death of Townsville baby Matthew Riley Baxter wraps up