Townsville father on trial for manslaughter of three-year-old toddler in Kelso stormwater drain

The defence team of the dad on trial following the tragic drowning of his toddler has concluded with the jury being asked if they think he did all he could to prevent the horror death.

Site of tragic drowning in Kelso. Picture: Evan Morgan

Did a Townsville father take necessary precautions that were reasonable in circumstances to ensure the safety of his kids on December 4, 2021? That was the question posed to a jury by the defence and prosecutions.

On day six of the trial where a man pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and endangering children following his three-year-old’s drowning and his two-year-old also being found walking the street that same afternoon, defence barrister Darin Honchin said the supervising parent did all he could that was reasonable.

“Things happen, accidents happen, not every breach of a duty will carry these consequences, a serious result happens but should (J) pay for that by way of criminal law?” Mr Honchin asked the jury.

“As a father who’s lost a child, there’s a mother who lost her child too, a whole family affected but does he have to go to jail for it?”

Townsville father on trial for manslaughter of three-year-old toddler in Kelso stormwater drain

One of the main points argued by defence was that the defendant did not have the key to lock the screen door, and that he did so by flicking the latch before he fell asleep.

This was said by the crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard to have been a lie, and showed the jury an image of what she claimed was J’s car keys and attached a key to lock the screen door.

The defence said the mother of the toddler lied to “absolve” herself of any responsibility, as she claimed when she left the house that afternoon J was in the front yard with the two year old boy while A slept inside, and that’s why she didn’t’ lock the door herself.

“It puts him in the seat as the one who didn’t lock the door,” Mr Honchin said.

“His evidence is he was inside when she goes out and he goes and checks the door and flips the latch.”

Mr Honchin also told the jury that while witnesses throughout the trial said A was an “inquisitive child” who wanted to be outside, no one saw her flick the screen door lock – this was disagreed with by Ms Sheppard who during cross-examination of J asked him if he had seen his daughter playing with the latch, which he replied “yes” to.

‘Not out of the ordinary, there’s nothing special about it, not just because of the drugs’

In his concluding address, Mr Honchin re-emphasised to the jury that J said he flicked the lock on the screen door and the toddler was asleep on the couch before falling asleep himself, and that while he had admitted to taking drugs in the lead up to the toddler’s death it didn’t mean he didn’t fulfil his duty.

“That is not out of the ordinary, there’s nothing special about it, not just because of the drugs,” he said.

“The reality is, you’ve had children, looked after children, you sleep when the children sleep. You can’t stay up and watch the children 24/7. What if you were up all night watching the Olympics? Watching football? Anything on TV sport-related is usually on late at night, should you not do that?

“What more reasonable things could he have done?”

At the beginning of her address to the jury, Ms Sheppard said they needed to move all feelings of sympathy towards the defendant to the side as they deliberate.

“(The toddler) died because of a series of decisions made by the defendant,” she said.

“This was not a parent attending to another child who inadvertently lost sight to another child, this was not a parent that was staying up watching the Olympics or any other sport and fell asleep.

‘Your responsibility as a parent doesn’t end when you go to sleep’

“This is a father who made a selfish decision to use drugs, who used methamphetamine in the days prior to his daughter’s death.”

The crown said the father had knowledge of the vulnerabilities his children were succumb to such as their ages, the fact A was eager to leave the house and had done so by opening the front door numerous times and that there was a body of water only 105 metres from their front door which she was aware of.

She said his account of being asleep when the mother originally left the house, instead of being outside, was untrue as he had stated he was awake in recorded prison phone calls with family members.

“It’s not suggested that if you go to sleep you are not supervising your child, but your responsibility as a parent doesn’t end when you go to sleep and to suggest that is what occurred in this instance is too simplistic,” Ms Sheppard said.

“The defendant’s duty to both kids were to take precautions that were reasonable in all the circumstances and here he simply did not.”

Judge Lincoln Crowley will provide his summing up of the trial on Tuesday afternoon, which will continue to Wednesday morning in Townsville Supreme Court before the jury break to deliberate on a verdict.

TRIAL, DAY FIVE

Drug deals and downloading cryptocurrency apps were among the things the man on trial for manslaughter claimed he did in the hours leading up to his daughter’s death.

The Townsville man who is alleged to have fallen asleep and left his two young children unsupervised before the three-year-old girl got out and drowned in a storm water drain pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and endangering children.

On day five of the trial in Townsville Supreme Court the man, referred to as ‘J’, took the stand and told the jury he did lock the screen door by flicking the latch and that the children were asleep on the couch when he went to bed.

It was not compulsory for the man to give his own evidence.

Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard played body worn camera footage taken immediately after the toddler died – J could be heard sobbing and it was clarified he said “you shouldn’t have left” to the mother of the child.

The mother was heard replying, “I shouldn’t have left? Don’t try and blame this on anyone else mate”.

She was then heard saying, “There is a reason I make sure the screen door is locked and the water is taken out of the bath tub”.

Townsville father pleads not guilty to the manslaughter of his three-year-old girl daughter after she drowned in Kelso in 2021. Picture: Facebook

Ms Sheppard said at no point did the man tell police he had actually locked the door, and she put to the man that it was because he never did – which he disagreed to.

The crown said she also wanted to be clear about what the man had done in the lead up to the toddler’s death and said his phone activity showed he had been awake for 31 hours which he agreed to.

“And the reason you were able to be awake for that period of time was because you were using methamphetamine?” Ms Sheppard put to the man, and he agreed.

In the 31 hours the man was awake and on the day of his daughter’s death, he agreed in front of the jury that he had downloaded cryptocurrency applications and was applying for financial approval as well as texted with someone about supplying them $400 worth of methamphetamine.

That same afternoon he sent a text message to the mother which read, “One hour tops that was at 11 dude I’m so f--ked out it’s not even funny.

“Like why tell me you will be straight back with smokes and leave for five hours promising you’ll be straight back, c’mon man show me a little respect”.

‘I don’t believe what I did was wrong’ father says

My Sheppard put to the man that he was outside in the driveway at the time the mother left the house and that when he went back in before falling asleep he didn’t lock the door, which he disagreed to both.

“My suggestion is you could have just stayed awake to supervise them when (the mother) left,” the crown said.

The man replied, “No when your kids go to sleep you can go to sleep as well, I feel like that’s not wrong”.

Ms Sheppard suggested it was because he fell asleep that the children were able to exit the house.

The man replied, “I don’t believe so, I believed I did what any normal person would do despite the fact I used. I went to sleep while the kids slept numerous times. I don’t believe what I did was wrong or I did more or not more than what I could’ve done”.

When re-examined, defence barrister Darin Honchin asked J if he believed the woman involved was a good mother and he said “Yes”.

Mr Honchin also called on the man’s two family members during the defence’s evidence who both had stayed at the house at separate times throughout 2021.

The man’s cousin told the jury she was never given a screen door key due to there only being one available which the mother of the toddler kept.

In separate evidence, the man’s mum told the jury she found out the toddler was missing via the mother’s Snapchat post and called immediately, with the mother claiming “she’s gone” and further clarifying that the toddler had drowned.

J’s mum also said when she asked what happened the mother told her she was going out and the man was asleep and smacked him on the head however during cross-examination it was put to the mother by the crown she was “mistaken” of her recollection of the conversation which she denied.

The closing addresses are expected to be given to the jury before Justice Lincoln Crowley Tuesday morning before they adjourn to deliberate.

TRIAL, DAY TWO

The mother of a toddler who drowned in a body of water after it was alleged the father fell asleep and left their two young children unattended to escape the property has taken to the stand denying she’s lied to put blame on the man on trial.

On day two of the trial where a 30-year-old father pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and endangering children, the mother of the deceased three-year-old sobbed and said she doesn’t want to see the man in jail.

Defence barrister Darin Honchin relayed the evidence the woman had given which included her saying that on the afternoon of December 4, 2021 she left the house to give a friend a lift, leaving the father in the driveway with the kids still inside.

“Well I put it to you that in fact that’s all lies,” Mr Honchin said.

“That never happened. The part where he was outside in the driveway never occurred.”

The woman replied, “It did happen because he was outside saying goodbye to me. I know this”.

Townsville father pleads not guilty to the manslaughter of his three-year-old girl daughter after she drowned in Kelso in 2021. Picture: Facebook

Mr Honchin put to the woman that the man was asleep when she was leaving the house and she smacked him to wake him up and that it was her who didn’t lock the house on her way out.

He also suggested that the defendant never had keys to the front door, both of which the woman disagreed with.

It was also put to her that after her daughter’s death she was angry with the man.

“I’m not going to frame him though,” she said crying.

The barrister put to the woman that she had “continued with that anger all the way through to today”.

“Absolutely not,” she said.

Mr Honchin said to the woman that she lied about the man being outside so she could relieve herself of “liability” and “responsibility” and said the defendant had been indoors the entire time, which the woman said was not true.

Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard re-examined the woman still on the stand and gave her the opportunity to tell the jurors how she felt about the suggestion she was lying in her evidence to avoid responsibility.

“I think it’s rubbish,” the woman said sobbing.

“Why would I want to see him get in trouble, I don’t want to, I don’t want him in there. There’s no reason to lie, it’s my daughter’s f--king death there’s no need to lie about it.”

‘I got her’

Also giving evidence was a couple who walked the water’s edge linked to the storm drain in Kelso during the search for the little girl and they told the jury of the tragic moment they spotted her body and attempted to save her.

The man who had only recently started dating the Kelso woman said he had been walking behind her when she stopped and noticed something in the water, six to 10 metres from the embankment.

“She walked ahead a little bit with her phone light on the water with the moonlight,” he said.

“The moon was quite light, it gave us a bit more to be able to see and we had noticed that something was a bit further out in the water that didn’t seem right.”

The man told the jury of how he walked into the water.

“The water was still, I had no shoes on, just shorts and a singlet,” he said.

“The water was up to my belly button. I wasn’t sure what I was walking towards until I got closer, I could see a face and hands above the water line. Her head, neck and hands were splayed out.”

Site of tragic drowning in Kelso. Picture: Evan Morgan

He told the jury how he carried her body that was only wearing a nappy to the embankment where his partner was and they immediately started performing CPR.

“After roughly a minute or two minutes she expelled some bile and then a little bit of food,” the man said.

The defendant, still sitting in the dock in the courtroom, was heard quietly crying and remained with his head in his hands.

The witnesses’ partner who also took the stand told the jury about the moment police knocked on their door asking if they had seen the little girl earlier in the night.

“I shone my phone torch across the water and it didn’t look right, it looked like a plastic bag,” she said.

“That’s when (my partner) said he would go in there and have a look.

“He got close enough to see it was a little girl and said ‘I got her’ and I screamed out and called people.”

Witnesses who lived nearby that came in contact with the defendant’s two-year-old son when he walked onto their property naked at the same time the daughter was missing, took the stand and shared how they door-knocked the area to find his parents before calling police.

One witness who had the boy in her arms after calling police told the jury how the defendant had come up to her and said “there you are” to his boy before also asking the witness “where the other one was”.

It was after he walked off with his boy, the witness called police a second time to notify them the three-year-old girl was also still missing.

On Thursday morning the jurors along with Judge Lincoln Crowley are scheduled to visit the area and view the scenes of the alleged offences.

TRIAL, DAY ONE

A man’s voice broke as he said ‘not guilty’ before a jury for the manslaughter of his three-year-old girl who was found deceased in a stormwater drain.

The North Queensland man’s name cannot be published due to him also facing and pleading not guilty to one charge of endangering his child-son at the same time of the alleged manslaughter, and in naming the man would identify the young boy.

This publication will refer to the defendant as ‘J’ throughout the trial.

Townsville father pleads not guilty to manslaughter of his three-year-old girl after she drowned in 2021. Picture: Facebook

In Townsville Supreme Court on Tuesday, crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard talked about the moment a neighbour in the area that had joined the search party for the three-year-old girl shone her phone light across a body of water and saw what she thought was a plastic bag.

Ms Sheppard said the woman’s husband entered the waist-high water through the embankment and found the toddler’s body facing upwards before he immediately attempted CPR however at 9:32pm, more than two hours after the girl’s mother called police – she was pronounced dead.

‘Failed his duty as a parent’

She said the trial concerned J’s “lack of supervision” for his biological children on the afternoon of December 4, 2021 as he had fallen asleep as they exited the unlocked house.

“While under his care, two very young children were permitted to leave the house in Kelso entirely unsupervised,” Ms Sheppard said.

She told the jury the man’s youngest, a two year old boy who will be referred to as ‘P’ was found wandering nearby streets naked and “exposed to the dangers of complete lack of supervision” while the three-year-old girl who will be referred to as ‘A’ had drowned in the body of water 105m from their front door.

“He simply failed his duty as a parent,” the crown said.

Ms Sheppard said the mother of the children left their home at 5:30pm to give a lift to a friend and when she returned the front wooden door was open, the security screen was unlocked.

“She immediately knew that something was wrong as she entered the house, those fears were confirmed when she observed the defendant asleep on her bed,” Ms Sheppard said.

“She remembers telling the defendant to lock the doors, she even offered to take the children with her.”

The crown said the child’s mother would open the trial as the first witness called to the stand to give evidence, and that evidence would include the pair’s alleged use of methamphetamine in the days leading up to their daughter’s death.

Ms Sheppard concluded her opening remarks by highlighting the purpose of the trial was to prove to jurors the man failed his duty as a parent.

Site of tragic drowning in Kelso. Picture: Evan Morgan

“No one is suggesting for a moment that the defendant wanted harm to come to his children,” she said.

Defence barrister Darin Honchin instructed by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Legal Services said that throughout the trial the jury would hear “a lot about drugs”.

“But really this case isn’t about drugs, it’s about children getting out of a house and what someone should have done to avoid the children doing that,” he said.

“You have to consider what the duty is, how far it extends and what he’s supposed to do. The death of (A) is tragic but that does not mean the defendant has breached his duty owed to her.”

Mr Honchin gave an example of why a parent might be tired.

“Many of you have stayed up at night and watched the Olympics recently or even the Paralympics, you’ve probably watched the girls netball team,” he said.

“Almost all the sports we watch are international and done overseas the late hours of the night or early hours of the morning, cricket, football, tennis and that causes people to be tired.

“So you have to consider what sort of precautions in particular (J) had to take in the circumstances.”

Through the course of the trial jurors are expected to hear from witnesses that include the toddler’s mother, other residents from the Kelso area, a worker from Child Safety, a pathologist and officers involved in the investigation.

Judge Lincoln Crowley, who the trial is set before, told the jury he found it relevant for them to visit the location of which the charge is said to have occurred to inspect the scenes for themselves.

“The viewing will be conducted outside the courtroom, it will be an official part of your trial,” His Honour said.

The trial which is expected to go for seven days will be in the hands of a jury consisting of four women and eight men.

Jurors will return to court Wednesday morning.

Originally published as Townsville father on trial for manslaughter of three-year-old toddler in Kelso stormwater drain