“Nathaniel has fallen and he hit his head.”
That’s the phone call from the babysitter that brought Nathaniel McLellan‘s mother rushing to get her 15-month old son, a London, Ont. court heard Friday.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” babysitter Meggin Van Hoof said later in person, shortly after the call in October 2015, according to testimony by Rose-Anne Van De Wiele, Nathaniel’s mother.聽
Van De Wiele was on the witness stand for the second day at the manslaughter trial of Van Hoof, 46, who ran an unlicensed home daycare in Strathroy. Van De Wiele had dropped Nathaniel off at 8:30 a.m. at Van Hoof’s home, then gone down the street to her job as an elementary school teacher.聽
Van Hoof has pleaded not guilty. The trial is in front of Justice Michael聽Carnegie; there is no jury.聽The case was profiled in a 海角社区官网Star聽series听补苍诲听
Nathaniel was 15 months old, happy and healthy when she left him at Van Hoof’s residence, his mother testified. Just before noon at the school where she taught Grade 4, Van De Wiele heard her name on the school’s public address system.
“There’s a call for Ms. Van De Wiele on line 101.”
She said she was eventually connected to her son’s babysitter, who looked after Nathaniel two days a week.聽
Van De Wiele said the babysitter told her Nathaniel had fallen. The toddler had been outside “with the girls,” Van De Wiele said she was told. The trial has not heard who “the girls” were.
“He’s acting strange. He’s falling asleep. He can’t hold his head up. He’s not acting normal. He’s not making sense,” Van De Wiele told court, providing her recollection of what Van Hoof said to her nearly a decade before.聽
”(Van Hoof) asked if I would like her to bring him to the school,” Van De Wiele told court, adding she said yes. She went to her SUV, headed up the street and spotted Van Hoof with Nathaniel in one arm and pulling a red wagon with the other, with a two-year-old running on the lawn beside her.
”(Van Hoof) was carrying him by the neck, and he was hanging with his head forward ... he was stiff,” said Van De Wiele, sobbing. Justice Carnegie asked her if she wanted a break but she declined.
She said her SUV squealed to a stop and got out, grabbed her son’s car seat and ran to Van Hoof. “I took my child from her,” she told court. His eyes were closed. She noticed a “cut” on top of his left ear, and a “red abrasion” on his left temple.聽
Van De Wiele said she got Nathaniel into her vehicle and roared off to Strathroy hospital. “Call me when you know something,” she said, recalling what Van Hoof said to her.
Court saw video of Van De Wiele bringing her son into the hospital, asking for help, then carrying him to a medical team.
“I was screaming, please God, save my baby. I just wanted him saved,” she said, when asked by crown attorney Meredith Gardiner how she would describe her actions.聽
As the Star has previously reported, some hospital staff later raised concerns to police about Van De Wiele’s behaviour. Prosecutor Gardiner asked Van De Wiele why after handing over her son she left the curtained area.
Rose-Anne McLellan photographed at the intersection of Head Street and Middlesex Avenue, where she picked up Nathaniel from Meggin before rushing him to hospital.
Lucas Oleniuk“I didn’t want to be hysterical and stop them from saving his life,” said Van De Wiele. She said she went to a quiet room and prayed. Hospital staff called her husband (Van De Wiele did not own a cellphone)聽to come to the hospital. Nathaniel was stabilized, transferred to a London hospital and died five days later of a massive head trauma.
In cross-examination, defence lawyer Geoff Snow suggested to Van De Wiele that she had she was “dogged” in her attempts to investigate the case herself and that it “consumed” her life.聽
“I was persistent,” Van De Wiele replied.
“You were trying to direct the police,” Snow said.
“No,” Van De Wiele replied.聽
He posited that Van De Wiele was set on having babysitter Van Hoof charged and convicted in Nathaniel’s death.
“I’m looking for justice,” Van De Wiele replied. “Justice for my son involves knowing what happened.”
Court heard that at one point, when a detective was discussing a polygraph done on Van De Wiele, she said, “as long as you go after her (Van Hoof), I’m good.” Van De Wiele told court she simply wanted police to conduct a polygraph on Van Hoof, and reinterview her. The Star has reported that only the grieving parents consented to a polygraph.
Snow took Van De Wiele through a variety of searches she did on her computer following Nathaniel’s death. Among them: information on polygraphs, children’s aid society investigations, Ministry of Education protocols, and child death investigations. She also borrowed library books, including topics on “baby deaths, grief, wrongful convictions.”
“Books that would help me survive,” Van De Wiele said.
Snow asked about Van De Wiele’s belief that police initially considered her a suspect, and that she distrusted investigators.
Van De Wiele agreed: “I did not trust the police. They considered us suspects until the day (Van Hoof) was charged,” she told court.
Snow asked her if she had “animus” toward his client. He put to her that she once referred to Van Hoof as a “stupid bitch.” Van De Wiele said she did say that, but that was when an OPP detective told her that it was possible the babysitter put her son down for a nap after a critical injury.
“An ill feeling,” she replied, when asked how she felt about Van Hoof. “I took my child there and he was healthy. She gave him back to me and he was critically injured.”
The trial continues Monday.
