The manager of the childcare centre that has been charged with the manslaughter of a three-year-old boy, after he was left on the centre’s minibus has been released on bail.
The Cairns Magistrate Court were able to listen to a transcript read aloud by Senior Sergeant Maynard Marcum of the minibus driver speaking to authorities after he found the boy dead outside the Goodstart Early Learning Centre.
Michael Glen Lewis, 45, was the one who stumbled upon the horrific discovery of the young boy deceased outside the day care in the southern Cairns suburb of Edmonton on Tuesday and was also the one who made a triple-0 call to authorities.
“Oh my God, this kid is dead,” Sergeant Marcum recounted.
“Oh my God. I’m the director of the childcare centre.
“The child was left on the bus all day.
“I’ve just opened up the bus and he’s here, dead.
“… I’m so sorry buddy.
“I’m going to jail, this is my fault.
“Oh my God. My whole life is over.”
Mr Lewis initially forgot to pick the three-year-old child up from his home, the court heard and was forced to drop off a busload of children to the centre and double back to pick up the boy from his home.
He drove around 4.5 kilometres back to the childcare centre at 9:15 am, the court was told.
Just sat two seats behind Mr Lewis was the young child, when the bus driver forgot to take him inside.
Mr Lewis then drove to another centre across town for a meeting that took several hours.
At 3:16pm, Mr Lewis found the boy dead in the bus outside Hambledon State School.
Mr Lewis, who is a father of three, failed to manually sign in the child when he got on the bus, Senior Sergeant Marcum said.
However, he was signed in on the centre’s computer system as being present even though he never arrived.
“This is an act of criminal negligence, appalling in its nature,” Senior Sergeant Marcum said.
“In that 4.5 kilometres, this child was forgotten.
“There wasn’t even a cursory glance.”
ABC news reported Mr Lewis sat in the dock with his head down during the proceedings.
A casual worker who had only been employed at the centre for less than a month was also granted bail after facing court for manslaughter over the child’s death.
Childcare worker Dionne Beatrice Grills, 34, was granted bail after a brief appearance.
Acting Detective Inspector Jason Smith told reporters outside the court that the pair had been charged Monday afternoon after a week-long investigation.
“The family is … distressed and very upset about this and hopefully now that the matter is before the court, they’ll get the answers that they need,” he said.
“This is the culmination of a week-long investigation and we are grateful for the assistance of specialist detectives from Brisbane and Townsville.
“During the investigation, police have liaised with the family and in fact, their broader family in Bamaga and Townsville.
“The staff from Goodstart Early Learning did provide detectives with assistance and at this stage, no-one else is under investigation.”
One of the boy’s relatives, Thomas Namok told the media he and his family were deeply upset by the tragedy.
“We’re all distraught at the moment. We just can’t believe this has happened. We just want answers,” he said.
“The last few days have just been terrible but everyone [in the family] will continue to support each other.
“He was just a cheerful little boy … we would always laugh every time he’s around. That’s what I remember of him. It’s going to be sad he’s not going to be around anymore.”
