Le Smileys childcare centre owners charged over bus incident

The owners of the childcare centre where a three-year-old was abandoned on a hot daycare bus for six hours and given only a five per cent chance of survival have been charged.

Police at the Le Smileys Childcare Centre in Gracemere where a child was found in critical condition on a parked bus, Gracemere - Photo Steve Vit

The owners of the childcare centre infamous for leaving a child trapped on a bus for six hours in May 2022 have been charged over the incident.

DJ and ME O’Rourke Pty Ltd (aka O’Rourke Family Trust), which owns Le Smileys Early Learning Centre in Berserker and Gracemere, have five charges currently in Rockhampton Magistrates Court, including one count each of failing to adequately supervise children, fail to ensure a risk assessment is carried out in accordance with regulations, fail to ensure service has policy or procedure in relation to regulated requirement, fail to protect a child from harm and/or hazard likely to cause injury and fail to take reasonable steps to ensure documents are accurate.

The owners did not appear in court.

The Department of Education had the charges laid in relation to an incident on May 4, 2022 when staff discovered a child picked up that morning had been left on the centre’s bus.

The three-year-old girl left stranded on a hot daycare bus for six hours only metres from the centre was given a five per cent chance of survival and was airlifted to Brisbane for medical treatment.

The only child on the bus, she was discovered unresponsive and still buckled into her seat.

Two former centre employees were sentenced in Rockhampton District Court in July 2023 after they both pleaded guilty to one count of grievous bodily harm.

The centre’s former director Bianca Maree Reynolds, 32, received a three year jail term, wholly suspended and operational for five years.

Bus driver Tara Alyce Steers, 31, received two years and eight months’ jail, also wholly suspended and operational for five years.

Both women lost their jobs and cannot work in the industry as a result of this incident, the District Court heard during their sentencing in 2023.

Crown prosecutor Joshua Phillips outlined how the two women repeatedly failed to follow the centre’s procedures and regulations imposed by governments in response to a case in Cairns in 2020 where a child died after being left in a childcare bus.

The case involving the O’Rourke Family Trust was adjourned to June 25 while further information was sought in relation to some of the charges.

Originally published as Le Smileys childcare centre owners charged over bus incident