Man twice acquitted over death of newborn son may give family statement at coronial inquest

A man acquitted following two trials over the death of his six-week old son may give a family statement at a coronial inquest into the boy’s death.

A coronial inquest is examining the cause of baby Matthew Riley Baxter’s death. Picture: Roanne Johnson

A man acquitted following two trials over the death of his six-week old son may give a family statement in the coming weeks at a coronial inquest into the boy’s death.

Brisbane Coroner’s Court has heard during ongoing inquest proceedings into the death of baby Matthew Riley Baxter that his father will consider giving a family statement in court.

Matthew was just six weeks old when he was rushed to Townsville Hospital on November 3, 2011.

His life support was switched off three days later, and his father Nicholas Baxter was charged with murder.

In 2017, Mr Baxter was found not guilty of murder but convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter - for which he was sentenced to nine years jail.

But following a successful appeal, which quashed that conviction, he was given a judge-only retrial and was ultimately acquitted – with the judge ruling that the evidence against him was largely circumstantial.

Mr Baxter has always denied the allegations.

Nicholas Aaron Baxter at Townsville Court during his first trial. Picture: Evan Morgan

Coroner Stephanie Williams flagged during inquest proceedings on Tuesday that Mr Baxter would not be precluded from putting forward a family statement if he wished.

Mr Baxter was not present for the proceedings, but his counsel indicated he would raise the matter with him.

The inquest is expected to run into next week, with multiple medical experts expected to give their opinion.

On Tuesday, pediatric radiologist Anthony Lamont told the inquest there were multiple rib fractures visible in Matthew’s post-mortem chest X-rays from what he viewed to be from two separate injuries.

He said two rib fractures close to Matthew’s spine were about three weeks old and likely caused by localised squeezing of the chest.

“If this has been caused by a major crush – say somebody falling on the chest or, just to get dramatic, if the baby was lying on the floor and somebody stomped on it – you’d expect to see multiple fractures all the way down the spine,” Dr Lamont told counsel assisting Jeffrey Hunter.

He said the scans also showed multiple corner fractures to Matthew’s ribs, which were more recent and “probably about a week” old.

“What kind of mechanism would cause this? Anything that would cause severe pressure on the front of the chest such that the cartilage is torn away from the end of the boning rib,” Dr Lamont said.

He said this could include squeezing the baby’s chest or depending on the circumstances potentially a person falling with the baby.

“ … Anything that’s going to cause a severe force between the front and the back, squeezing the chest,” he said.

Later in his evidence, Dr Lamont elaborated that he viewed it likely that “something severe” such as a punch or stomp to the chest – “something of that nature or that kind of strength” – had caused the more recent fractures.

“Something has pushed the sternum and those cartilages back into the chest as it were, tearing the ends of the cartilages off the ends of the ribs.”

Mr Baxter overturned his manslaughter conviction and was acquitted at a retrial in 2021.

Dr Lamont rejected the suggestion Matthew’s injuries could have been the result of bone disease rickets, as was suggested at Mr Baxter’s trial.

“I’ve seen many cases of vitamin D deficient rickets at various ages, and I’ve never seen it occur in just one area of the body,” he said.

Dr Lamont, who gave evidence at both Mr Baxter’s trials, told the inquest he had been “shocked” when the suggestion of rickets was initially put forward.

“It’s extremely rare in Australia. I’ve been here what twenty-something years and I don’t think I’ve seen a case of a white Australian with rickets since I’ve been here.”

Dr Lamont also pointed out brain swelling and bleeding visible in Matthew’s MRIs, saying the bleeding looked to be roughly three to four days old.

The MRIs had been taken on November 4, the day after Matthew was admitted to hospital, so Dr Lamont suggested it was likely the event which caused the bleeding had occurred on November 1st or 2nd.

He also pointed to an “unusually” visible amount of blood around Matthew’s eyeballs.

Dr Lamont told the court the amount of blood indicated a “substantial violence” to Matthew’s eyes which he said was “probably” the result of a “shaking type of injury”.

The inquest is expected to continue into next week, with further testimony from medical experts scheduled tomorrow.

Originally published as Man twice acquitted over death of newborn son may give family statement at coronial inquest