Lina Marie Daley pleads guilty to manslaughter of 13-month-old son Makavelii Leoni

The Cairns mother of a 13-month-old boy who died after overdosing on methylamphetamine in 2018 has entered a plea on the eve of her manslaughter trial.

The Cairns mother of a 13-month-old boy who died after overdosing on methylamphetamine in 2018 has entered a plea on the eve of her manslaughter trial.

Lina Marie Daley, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter in the Cairns Supreme Court on Tuesday.

In December 2020, she was committed to stand trial for the manslaughter of her toddler Makavelii Leoni.

The trial was due to begin on Wednesday, but will now not proceed.

Crown Prosecutor Nathan Crane told the court the Crown would be discontinuing a charge of cruelty to children.

During her arraignment, Daley also pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking methylamphetamine and cannabis over an almost 12 month period between June 1, 2018, and May 25, 2019.

Daley’s defence barrister Joshua Treviño QC asked the court for his client’s sentence to be adjourned for six to eight weeks so that a pre-sentence report could be prepared by a psychologist.

Justice Jim Henry set October 18 as the date for Daley’s sentence.

Forensic police and plain clothes detectives investigate the death of Makavelii Leoni. Leoni's mother Lina Daley helps police with their investigations. Her 13 month old son was found unresponsive at a White Rock home in September 2018 and died on the way to hospital. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE.

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During the December 2020 committal hearing, the court heard Makavelii was found unresponsive in a White Rock house in September 2018 where he had been staying with Daley, her partner Michael Yeatman and multiple members of his family.

Medical experts told the December hearing the high concentration of methylamphetamine within Makavelii’s system was the cause of his death.

Forensic toxicologist Dr Katherine Robinson said it was impossible to know how much he ingested, but the onset would have been “quite sudden” if it had been a large quantity.

She said it was also possible that if he had been exposed to multiple lower doses over time, a slightly higher dose than what he was used to could have been fatal.

Makavelii Leoni, with his mum Lina Marie Daley. Picture: Facebook

Forensic pathologist Dr Paul Botterill confirmed Makavelii had 43 injuries to his body when he died, but conceded some may have been either old or accidental, caused by a child falling while learning to walk.

He said at least three could also have been attributed to attempts to save his life including CPR and intubation.

“None of the injuries, whilst being a large number, they were not sufficient to explain death,” he said.

“The only explanation left after that is the presence of methylamphetamine.”

Daley was originally also charged with torture and indecent treatment of a child, but the torture charge was downgraded to cruelty to a child under 16.

That charge has now also been discontinued.

The indecent treatment charge, which allegedly related to an image located on Daley’s phone depicting the toddler with a sex toy, was dropped earlier in the year.

Originally published as Lina Marie Daley pleads guilty to manslaughter of 13-month-old son Makavelii Leoni