Nathaniel McLellan was acting strangely, falling asleep and “couldn’t hold his head up,” a London, Ont. court heard on the first day of the manslaughter case against former babysitter Meggin Van Hoof. Still, prosecutor Lerren Ducharme said, Van Hoof “did not call 911 at any time.”
In her opening address, Ducharme painted a picture of what started as an ordinary day for the McLellan family on their 200-acre plot of land near Parkhill, Ont., on Oct. 27, 2015.
Nathaniel, 15 months old, awoke normally and had breakfast in his high chair. His mother, Rose-Anne聽Van De Wiele, and father, Kent McLellan, busied themselves with the toddler and his three older brothers, aged 6, 8, and 10. It was picture day at the older boys’ school.
As busy working parents, they had arranged child care for their youngest son. Rose-Anne was a teacher in Strathroy, a half-hour drive away. Kent was a local small business owner.
With the older boys off to school, Rose-Anne drove Nathaniel to Van Hoof’s home, dropping him off at 8:30 a.m., before driving down the street to her job as a fourth-grade teacher. She had recently placed Nathaniel in Van Hoof’s care two days a week.
Ducharme told the court that in the weeks to come, numerous witnesses would describe the events that occurred that day, and what medical experts determined.
Ducharme presented an overview of the case. Prosecution will allege both that a deliberate act of “intentional force” caused Nathaniel’s death, and that Van Hoof failed to take action by calling 911. The latter contention caused Van Hoof’s lawyer Geoff Snow to complain to the court that their understanding was that the prosecution was focusing on the allegation of a deliberate act causing the death 鈥 not failure to act. That issue will be dealt with in front of Justice Michael Carnegie first thing Thursday morning. The trial is by judge alone 鈥 no jury.
Van Hoof, 46, was charged with manslaughter in 2021, six years after Nathaniel died. There was a protracted police investigation by two forces, which initially focused on the toddler’s parents. Following the publication of a 海角社区官网Star series, the Ontario Provincial Police charged Van Hoof, who was with Nathaniel at the time he went into medical distress.
According to Ducharme, Van Hoof operated an unlicensed daycare. She was looking after seven children at different times during the day 鈥 normally it was nine, but two were ill. Van Hoof operated the daycare out of her home. She also sold products online (court did not hear a description of the products) “to make some extra money.”
When Nathaniel first arrived that Tuesday morning, Ducharme said he happily played “Ring Around the Rosie” and “danced to the radio.”
By mid-morning, after the older children in her care were dropped at school and another daycare by Van Hoof, she had two to look after 鈥 Nathaniel and a two-year-old boy.
The court heard that by 10:29 a.m. Nathaniel was in some distress. Prosecutor Ducharme said Van Hoof snapped a photo of Nathaniel “with his eyes closed on her basement couch and sent it to her friend.” There was an exchange of messages, and according to the crown attorney, Van Hoof texted her friend, “I would gladly give him to you today,” and called Nathaniel “Mr. Grumpy Pants.”
“He was just so tired he was falling asleep standing up, but was dead against going to the crib,” Van Hoof texted her friend, according to the prosecutor.聽
At 11:45 a.m., Van Hoof called Nathaniel’s mother at school, where she was teaching. “She called the school panicked and looking to speak to Rose-Anne,” Ducharme told the court. “It was an emergency.” Reaching Rose-Anne at 11:51 a.m., Van Hoof told her that “Nathaniel had fallen, that he was acting strange. That he was falling asleep, and that he couldn’t hold his head up.”
An arrangement was made for Van Hoof to walk Nathaniel down the street towards the school. Ducharme said Nathaniel’s mother met Van Hoof on the street.聽Nathaniel didn’t have a coat or shoes on, Ducharme told the court.
“Nathaniel was unconscious and stiff. Rose-Anne could not buckle him into his car seat. She squealed away in her GMC Yukon as fast as she could.”聽
The court heard that medical experts and the doctors who treated Nathaniel will testify. Ducharme said it was clear to Strathroy doctors at the local hospital that Nathaniel had “suffered a traumatic brain injury 鈥 pupils were blown from the cranial pressure.”聽
Nathaniel survived on life support for five days, then died.
“The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head with no evidence of pre-existing natural disease contributing to death,” Ducharme told the court.
She drew the court’s attention to the apparent lack of action taken by Van Hoof that morning, noting she did not call 911.
Ducharme said that Nathaniel’s pain when he was in distress “would have been unbearable” and that the neurological decline was so quick and severe that he ultimately suffered a “stroke.”
Wednesday, Justice Carnegie quashed a subpoena the defence team had issued in an attempt to compel the 海角社区官网Star reporter who investigated the case to testify.聽
The trial is expected to last four to six weeks.聽
A 海角社区官网Star podcast delving into the case can be found here.聽
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