Cairns toddler James Daniel Tabuai suffered ‘significant’ blunt force head injury immediately prior to death, court hears

A grandmother has broken down in court after learning that her seven month-old grandson died from a significant non-accidental blunt force head injury inside her home.

A GRANDMOTHER has broken down in court after learning that her seven month-old grandson died from a significant non-accidental blunt force head injury inside her Edmonton home.

Northern Coroner Nerida Wilson is holding a coronial inquest into the 2013 death of six-month-old toddler James Daniel Tabuai in Cairns this week.

No one has ever been charged over the toddler’s death, which investigating officer Detective Sergeant Glenn Wallwork described to the court as an “unsolved homicide”.

A pre-inquest hearing had previously heard how the occupants of a home in Edmonton on the night of February 1, 2013, discovered bubba James – as they called him – had stopped breathing.

Despite his uncle’s attempts to perform CPR on his little body and the care of paramedics and doctors at Cairns Hospital, he was pronounced dead by hospital staff at 11.59pm.

The boy’s grandmother Germaine Lenoy, giving evidence via video-link from Gladstone, was overcome with emotion as she described how since bubba James’ death, her family had been torn apart.

Bubba James. Picture: Facebook

“Nobody talks to nobody anymore. It drives me crazy,” she wept.

Det Sgt Wallwork described to the court the extensive policework that went into investigating bubba James’ death, including the obtaining of 46 statements from friends and family, covert strategies, coercive Crime and Corruption Commission hearings, re-enactments, and the obtaining of 16 medical-related statements and reports.

Det Sgt Wallwork told the court a report from biomechanical engineer Dr Zachariah Cooper identified the force required to cause bubba James’ injuries would have had to have been a fall greater than two meters onto a flat surface, and that a report provided to the coroner by forensic paediatrician Dr Deanna True had “tightened up the time frame with regard to James’ injuries and his death”.

“Dr True has indicated that the injuries that he received which ultimately caused his death, he received those injuries within minutes to hours of his death,” Det Sgt Wallwork said.

Counsel assisting the coroner Molly Mahlouzarides asked if that was the first time the officer became aware the application of force was so immediate to the toddler’s death.

“Yes … we were aware those last 24 hours were critical, but it’s correct that Dr True really narrowed down that time frame,” Det Sgt Wallwork said.

The court heard Det Sgt Wallwork concluded in his report to the coroner: “Police have been unable to identify the person responsible for the act or omission that led to James’ death, but police are confident the person responsible is within the broader family unit, and not an outsider”.

Giving evidence, Ms Lenoy told the court that on the night of February 1, there was a family dinner at which bubba James’ mum Synoa Tabuai was present, as well as her other daughter Danielle Tabuai and her partner Ehammed Anderson, and other children including Germaine’s much younger daughter Nyrah.

Ms Lenoy told the court after dinner, they all went to their separate rooms to relax and the last time she saw bubba James that night was when his mum grabbed him off Ms Lenoy’s son’s bed in her room.

She woke to the sound of Synoa screaming that bubba James wasn’t breathing, the court heard.

Ms Mahlouzarides asked Ms Lenoy if she understood that bubba James had died from a significant blunt force to his head, that most likely occurred within minutes or hours before he stopped breathing in her home on February 1, 2013.

She said she did, now.

“Do you know anything about how James came to sustain those injuries that night?” Ms Mahlouzarides asked.

“No, I didn’t know anything about what happened to baby James,” Ms Lenoy replied.

Northern Coroner Nerida Wilson addressed Ms Lenoy directly.

“I just want to make sure that I’ve understood correctly that it hasn’t been explained to you that your grandson died from non-accidental means, from injuries sustained in your home that night. Are you understanding that for the first time now?” Ms Wilson asked.

“Yes, which is why I’m so upset,” Ms Lenoy replied.

Ms Lenoy went on to tell the court that as she came out of her room and tried to pass Danielle the phone to dial triple-0 she heard Danielle say to Synoa: “You hit his head”.

Ms Lenoy later changed the wording to “bumped”.

“I tried to hand her the phone. But I remember she said you hit his head. Over the years I just thought of it, how is anybody supposed to know what happened at that time when he stopped breathing,” Ms Lenoy said.

The inquest continues on Tuesday morning.

Originally published as Cairns toddler James Daniel Tabuai suffered ‘significant’ blunt force head injury immediately prior to death, court hears