Childcare centre, supervisor fined over toddler's death

A Darwin childcare centre and its supervisor have been convicted and fined for offences related to the tragic death of a toddler three years ago.

Warning: This article contains content some readers may find distressing.

Ebony Thompson was just 22 months old when she was found by a staff member hanging from a loop-top fence in a "blind spot" at the Humpty Doo Community & Child Care Centre on August 31, 2023, after being left unsupervised in the playground.

Last year Northern Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage found Ebony had been trapped in the fence for at least four minutes after trying to lean over it to see into the centre's chicken coop.

She found the toddler's death had been preventable.

The childcare centre pleaded guilty in October to inadequately supervising children and inadequately protecting children from harm and hazards.

Supervisor Casandra Harris, who was not rostered to work or present on the day, pleaded guilty to a charge of inadequately protecting children from harm.

On Monday, Ebony's family members, wearing her favourite colour, purple, filled out the gallery of the Darwin Local Court to hear Judge Stephen Geary's final deliberation.

Judge Geary said it was clear a lack of supervision and "failure to take every reasonable precaution" was central to Ebony's death.

"No educator was in a position to see if the children were in a blind spot, no walk-throughs or checks of the yard were conducted … and no written policy was formulated requiring a walk-though of the yard," he said during sentencing. 

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Ebony's parents said that "not a single moment goes by that we don't feel Ebony's absence".

"She brought happiness to everyone she knew," they said.

Failure to address blind spot

Judge Geary said there had been four incidents related to a lack of supervision at the childcare centre prior to Ebony's death, which had been investigated by childcare regulator Quality Education and Care NT.

He said the centre made changes following the regulator's inspection, including to its supervision methods and headcounts, but "nothing was changed in respect to the blind spot".

The regulator did not identify any potential risks or hazards in its inspection, Judge Geary said.

"The blind spot was never really addressed or considered by anyone despite it being a high-risk area," he said.

"I want to be clear, I'm not associating blame to the regulator or Kidsafe, but their involvement may have indirectly contributed to the centre and Ms Harris letting their guard down somewhat on safety."

Judge Geary said his reasoning focused heavily on general deterrence and the welfare of future children.

He found Ms Harris was less culpable than the childcare centre and told the court she had no prior convictions and was not working on the day of the incident.

"I've read the references provided on her behalf and she's clearly a very caring childcare supervisor … I also note her distress … her role in the matter is something she will have to live with for the rest of her life," Judge Geary said.

"If one of the roles of a judge is to try and deliver some kind of justice to the victim or their family, I can't do that today."

Judge Geary noted that childcare centre and Ms Harris had entered early pleas and applied a 25 per cent discount to the sentence for each of their offences.

He said the maximum penalty for each offence at the time of the incident was $50,000 for the childcare centre and $10,000 for an individual.

The childcare centre was fined a total of $42,000, while Ms Harris received a $2,150 total fine.

Judge Geary said since Ebony's death, the centre had installed a gate to prevent children having access to the blind spot, and added that the childcare centre had fully cooperated with the regulator.