Logan Hawkins death: Alicia Jane Lee’s murder charge update

Two years after a Central Queensland woman was charged with the murder of her two-year-old stepson, her court case, previously paused amid DNA delays, has stalled for a new reason.

East St and Magistrates Court Rockhampton generic Photo: J Houley

The court case against a woman charged with the alleged murder of her toddler stepson remains stalled in the lower courts almost two years after the boy’s death.

Alicia Jane Lee, 24, was charged in February 2022 with one count of murder over the death of two-year-old Rockhampton boy Logan Shaun Hawkins on January 19, 2022.

The case was previously caught up in the statewide DNA backlog.

However, when it returned to Rockhampton Magistrates Court on Wednesday, it was revealed that while a pathology report had since been received, both the police and defence team still need more information before the case can proceed.

Emergency services were first called to a Frenchville address on January 18, 2022 and Logan was taken to Rockhampton Hospital and then rushed to Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane.

He died the following day from a traumatic brain injury.

In a bail application made in the Brisbane Supreme Court on August 12, 2022 Crown prosecutor Aleksandra Nikolic said significant force was required to have resulted in the injuries that were identified by the doctor.

Ms Nikolic said it was alleged Ms Lee was the only adult with Logan at the time the fatal injuries were inflicted.

“The explanations provided by the applicant given that she was the only adult at home with the child do not align with the opinions of (the) doctor,” she said.

When the case was mentioned on Wednesday (Ms Lee was not required to attend), Legal Aid lawyer Ms Crawley told the court her team had received the forensic pathology report from the police and was seeking to get its own report from a forensic pathologist.

She expected this report would be completed by mid-November.

However, the police prosecutor advised QPS was also still waiting on two more statements from doctors with no estimated response time provided.

Ms Crawley told the court those two statements could impact the report her team was seeking and she would need more information from police about what was expected to be in those reports.

The case was adjourned to November 29 with the parties to communicate about the outstanding statements.

At another previous court mention on March 29, 2023, police prosecutor Sergeant Kevin Ongheen said the ETA for the pathologist report was June 11 and that once that was available, a doctor would be able to finalise their report to complete the brief of evidence.

Prior to that, on September 7, 2022 the court heard the pathologist report wouldn’t be ready until late January 2023.

The court heard on June 1, 2022 the report could take up to 12 months to complete from the date of the post-mortem.

The court heard Ms Lee was on Supreme Court bail, which was granted in August 2022 to live with a friend in Brisbane, meaning she would not be able to encounter Crown witnesses in the Rockhampton region.

The bail conditions also stipulate she is not allowed contact with children under the age of 10 without supervision.

Originally published as Logan Hawkins death: Alicia Jane Lee’s murder charge update