Darwin childcare centre guilty of supervision breach before child's death

The Humpty Doo Community & Child Care Centre (HDCCCC) and its supervisor Casandra Harris have pleaded guilty in the Darwin Local Court to charges laid after the death of a toddler in 2023.

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

Northern Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage last year found that on the morning of August 31 that year, Ebony Thompson had gone unsupervised at the childcare centre for about 10 minutes, before she was discovered unconscious and trapped by her neck in a low, loop-topped fence in a blind spot in the centre's playground.

In November, HDCCCC and three of its staff, including Ms Harris, were charged with inadequately supervising children and inadequately protecting children from harm and hazards.

One of the workers on duty the day of Ebony's death, Gurmeet Kaur, today had her charges withdrawn, and the inadequate supervision charge against Ms Harris was also dropped.

The court heard Ms Harris had been the nominated supervisor for Ebony's class that day, but was not rostered to work or present at the time of her death. Today she pleaded guilty to inadequately protecting children from harm.

At a Darwin Local Court hearing in May, the childcare centre's director, Rachel Marsh, indicated she would contest similar charges against her. She is expected to return to court next month.

Today, HDCCCC community management committee vice president Nadia Brooker pleaded guilty on behalf of the centre to both charges.

The court heard it was the first time such charges had been prosecuted in the Northern Territory.

Lawyers for HDCCCC and Ms Harris argued fines in line with similar, non-fatal incidents in Queensland would be appropriate.

But Judge Stephen Geary said those fines — of up to $15,000 — were imposed in "a different context".

 "A child has passed on," he said.

"Ebony was a beautiful, intelligent little girl; it's an absolute tragedy."

Around a dozen members of Ebony's family, including her parents Floyd and Jade Thompson, were present in the public gallery, dressed in her favourite colour, purple.

No yard checks conducted

The court heard HDCCCC had been deemed to be "meeting" all of its seven national quality and safety standards at the time of Ebony's death and had undergone inspections by the regulator twice in the preceding twelve months.

But prosecutor Nicholas Goodfellow said there had been four instances of non-supervision at HDCCCC found to be in breach of the regulator's code in the years between 2019 and 2023.

Mr Goodfellow told the court HDCCCC had failed to notify the regulator of changes to the playground that created the "blind spot" behind the shed where Ebony was found unconscious.

"Ebony was not accounted for from 11:32am till she was found at 11:41am," he said.

"From around 11:28am to 11:37am, when children were transitioning from the outdoor play area, no educator was in a position to see if children were in the blind spot behind the island shed.

"No walk-through or checks of the yard were conducted when transitioning children from the outdoor play area.

"No written policy required a walk-through of the yard, or a checking of the blind-spot behind the island shed."

Likely sentence 'a fine'

Defence lawyer Adam Mason told the court HDCCCC now updated and reviewed its site plans every six months, with more regular headcounts and room-to-room hazard inspections.

But he said families had withdrawn from the centre in the wake of Ebony's death and the Department of Home Affairs had revoked an application by HDCCCC to sponsor the visas of its international workers.

"Possibly they'll never recover, in terms of their reputation," he said.

Mr Mason argued that no conviction should be recorded against either the centre or Ms Harris.

Judge Geary indicated that he would not impose a jail sentence.

"The sentence that I will impose is a fine; I can understand that it may come across as, to many people, totally inadequate," he said.

HDCCCC and Ms Harris are expected to return to court for sentencing next month.