The night before Nathaniel McLellan was believed to have been mortally injured, he was accidentally bumped by a door in his home, the manslaughter trial of the toddler’s babysitter has heard. His mother testified that following the bump, her son was happy and healthy, both that night and when he was dropped off at the babysitter’s house.
The “door bump” happened just before dinner at the McLellan-Van De Wiele family home in Parkhill, a rural community in southwestern Ontario, in the fall of 2015. Nathaniel’s three older brothers had gone out to ride their bikes. Rose-Anne Van De Wiele, Nathaniel’s mother, was looking after him while also tidying some shelves in the backroom off the kitchen.听
“I was moving things back and forth,” Van De Wiele told a London court. “I opened the door and Nathaniel bumped behind.”
The door separated the back room and the laundry room. Van De Wiele said she opened the door fully and saw her son lying on the floor. He was “startled,” she testified, describing how Nathaniel was lying on his back with his arms out. She picked him up, and he cried.
“I carried him through my kitchen and my dining area to the rocking chair, and when I got to the rocking chair, he had stopped crying,” she told the court. Kent McLellan, her husband, came home shortly after, and Nathaniel said “hi, Dad,” she recalled.听
As the Star has previously reported, the “door bump” has significance in the case, which has taken ten years to get to trial. It was one of the pieces of information that led the first police officers on the case to believe the 15-month-old’s parents were responsible for his death.听
The person on trial for manslaughter in the death of Nathaniel is Meggin Van Hoof, 46. Van Hoof ran an unlicensed daycare in nearby Strathroy and the Van De Wiele-McLellan family had hired her to look after Nathaniel two days a week. She was looking after Nathaniel on Tuesday, the day after the door bump incident.
Van Hoof has pleaded not guilty. She is represented by Geoff Snow, a London lawyer.
Crown attorney Meredith Gardiner began the prosecution narrative by calling Van De Wiele to the witness stand on Thursday afternoon after numerous delays in the case. The court heard that Van De Wiele was an elementary school teacher. She and husband McLellan had four children, Nathaniel and his three older brothers (aged 6, 8, and 10).听
Nathaniel was tiny, the court heard. He was “very petite,” Van De Wiele said, weighing 17 pounds when he died.听
“He was the centre of everyone’s universe,” she said. He was “mischievous,” liked to “snuggle” and was the “happiest” child.
Gardiner focused on the hours following the door bump. Van De Wiele said after that minor cry, their youngest son was fine. He ate well (scalloped potatoes and cut-up pieces of peameal bacon) at dinner. It was picture day for the older boys that Tuesday. When Van De Wiele was cutting the older boys’ hair in the bathroom that night, Nathaniel was picking up the hair, throwing it in the air. His dad was doing his best to keep this from happening, but Nathaniel was quite “mischievous,” she said. At bath time, the toddler kept tossing his older brother’s underwear into the tub.听
A photo taken of Nathaniel wearing a funny hat (there had been a birthday party) was shown at the trial. There is a faint red mark on the little boy’s forehead. He is grinning in the photo, being held by his father.
Nathaniel slept well that night, had a good breakfast in his high chair (his oatmeal and some of his dad’s, Cheerios) and after the older boys got on the school bus at the end of the road, Van De Wiele buckled him into the car seat of her SUV and drove the thirty minutes to drop him at Van Hoof’s, near the school where she taught.
Van De Wiele said Nathaniel cried when she left him, but that was normal at drop-offs at the sitter’s. In an attempt to cobble together a daycare plan for the week, Van De Wiele said she and a friend helping her had spotted Van Hoof’s posting on Kijiji and Facebook.听
During her testimony, Van De Wiele was asked where Van Hoof had said she would be looking after Nathaniel and other children (the court heard she had seven children of different ages in her care). Van De Wiele said Van Hoof showed her the playroom in the basement of her bungalow. She said Van Hoof told her she had baby gates and would install them on the stairs to prevent accidental falls.听
Van Hoof looked after Nathaniel in September and October of that year, leading up to the alleged incident on Oct. 27, 2015. Nathaniel’s mother said that when Van Hoof brought Nathaniel to her school at the end of each day, she noticed Van Hoof held him, and her son always seemed fine in the care of his babysitter.听
The court has heard that Van Hoof’s daycare was unlicensed. Van De Wiele testified she was unaware of that at the time.
Van Hoof was charged in 2021 shortly after the publication of a 海角社区官网Star investigative series, which was later made into a podcast.听
Defence lawyer Geoff Snow had raised an issue at the start of the trial, complaining that the Crown was overreaching in the case. He said he was under the impression he only had to defend the issue of whether his client did something (an “unlawful act”) that caused the child’s injury. Now, based on the Crown’s opening statement, he said he has learned he has to defend the issue of alleged negligence or failure to help (not calling 911) Nathaniel that day.听
Justice Michael Carnegie dismissed Snow’s concerns, but allowed him time later in the trial to further research his defence position.
The trial continues on Friday.
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