PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "Oatmeal consumption was the focus of much of the cross-examination, and Snow questioned his father’s claim that Nathaniel ate a full breakfast. Court heard that McLellan brought his 15-month-old downstairs the morning of Oct. 27. McLellan has testified that Nathaniel was his normal happy self. As was the family routine each day, McLellan said he made oatmeal for the family, while Nathaniel sat in his high chair in the kitchen, munching on dissolvable rice baby crackers while breakfast was cooking. McLellan testified that Nathaniel ate his own bowl of oatmeal and some of his. But Snow put it to McLellan that he was exaggerating the amount of breakfast Nathaniel ate because it helped his argument that the boy was well that morning. “You’ve known for some time that Nathaniel’s appetite and eating on Oct. 27 is important,” Snow said. “By eating a lot in the morning, that’s a sign that he wasn’t injured.”
——————————————————
PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Further, Snow took McLellan through all the things he had to do before heading off to work, including assisting his wife Rose-Anne Van De Wiele, getting dressed and checking in with his other sons. “You’re not sitting there inspecting the amount of mouthfuls of oatmeal your son is eating?” Snow asked. “Correct,” McLellan replied. Snow then suggested that, in fact, Nathaniel did not have his own bowl of oatmeal, but rather shared some of his father’s. McLellan replied, “No, Nate had his own bowl of oatmeal.”
———————————————————————
PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "In 2021, OPP detectives laid a manslaughter charge against Van Hoof. The charge came less than a week after a Toronto Star investigative series on the case was published. The series was also published as a podcast."
------------------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Nathaniel’s father grilled on his son’s oatmeal consumption at babysitter’s manslaughter trial," by Chief Investigative Reporter Kevin Donovan, published by The Toronto Star, on January 8, 2025. (Kevin Donovan is the Toronto Star’s Chief Investigative Reporter. His focus is on journalism that exposes wrongdoing and effects change. Over more than three decades he has reported on the activities of charities, government, police, business among other institutions. Donovan also reported from the battlefields in the Gulf War and the war in Afghanistan following 9/11. He has won three National Newspaper Awards, two Governor General’s Michener Awards, the Canadian Journalism Foundation award and three Canadian Association of Journalists Awards. As the Star’s editor of investigations for many years, Donovan led many award-winning projects for the paper. He is the author of several books, including “Secret Life: The Jian Ghomeshi Investigation” and the “Dead Times” (a fiction novel).
SUB-HEADING: "Kent McLellan is asked about details of the morning more than 10 years ago as defence lawyer probes whether the 15-month-old was unwell before dropoff."
GIST: "How much oatmeal toddler Nathaniel McLellan consumed — and the exact times his family woke up and came downstairs the day the little boy became unwell — was the focus of a London, Ont., manslaughter trial Thursday.
In his third day of cross-examination by defence lawyer Geoff Snow, father Kent McLellan was asked to give a minute-by-minute account of his family’s morning at their home in Parkhill more than 10 years ago, just before Nathaniel was dropped off at the unlicensed daycare run by Meggin Van Hoof out of her home in Strathroy.
Van Hoof is on trial for manslaughter. The prosecution alleges that she both caused Nathaniel’s death and failed to take action (including calling 911) when he became unwell at her home. Van Hoof has pleaded not guilty. Medical testimony from experts will be presented later in the trial. So far, court has heard that Nathaniel died from a massive head injury.
Snow, Van Hoof’s lawyer, suggested to McLellan that Nathaniel was unwell before he was dropped off at Van Hoof’s home on the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. To build this defence, Snow suggested there were signs that Nathaniel was unwell, and then pointed out what he said were inconsistencies between statements McLellan has made over the years to various police investigators, and his testimony this week at the trial.
Oatmeal consumption was the focus of much of the cross-examination, and Snow questioned his father’s claim that Nathaniel ate a full breakfast. Court heard that McLellan brought his 15-month-old downstairs the morning of Oct. 27. McLellan has testified that Nathaniel was his normal happy self. As was the family routine each day, McLellan said he made oatmeal for the family, while Nathaniel sat in his high chair in the kitchen, munching on dissolvable rice baby crackers while breakfast was cooking.
McLellan testified that Nathaniel ate his own bowl of oatmeal and some of his. But Snow put it to McLellan that he was exaggerating the amount of breakfast Nathaniel ate because it helped his argument that the boy was well that morning.
“You’ve known for some time that Nathaniel’s appetite and eating on Oct. 27 is important,” Snow said. “By eating a lot in the morning, that’s a sign that he wasn’t injured.”
Further, Snow took McLellan through all the things he had to do before heading off to work, including assisting his wife Rose-Anne Van De Wiele, getting dressed and checking in with his other sons.
“You’re not sitting there inspecting the amount of mouthfuls of oatmeal your son is eating?” Snow asked.
“Correct,” McLellan replied.
Snow then suggested that, in fact, Nathaniel did not have his own bowl of oatmeal, but rather shared some of his father’s.
McLellan replied, “No, Nate had his own bowl of oatmeal.”
Snow also raised what he said were inconsistencies between statements McLellan made to police investigators almost a decade ago, and what he testified at trial this week. Chief among this was when Nathaniel woke up that morning.
McLellan testified this week that Nathaniel woke up around 6 a.m., and that this was a normal time for him to wake, calling out that he was ready for the day. The sound of him in his crib was sort of an alarm clock, McLellan agreed when Snow suggested that. McLellan told court that as was the morning routine, he went in to get Nathaniel (he estimates at 6:15 a.m.), brought him into their bedroom to snuggle with Van De Wiele, while he went down to get breakfast started. McLellan said his habit was to get dressed downstairs while the oatmeal was cooking.
Snow pointed out that in McLellan’s statements to police close to a decade ago, he said that Nathaniel woke up closer to 7 a.m. Court had heard it had been a busy weekend with a family event that left everyone tired. Snow suggested that for a child who normally woke up (according to McLellan) at around 6 a.m., sleeping in a full hour was abnormal.
McLellan said that despite what he said to police back then, his memory today is that Nathaniel got up at his normal time and did not sleep in.
Snow also asked McLellan about his recollection of what his other three boys and his wife were doing that morning. For example, he asked McLellan if their 10-year old son was practising piano that morning, before getting on the bus to school.
McLellan said he could not remember, saying that the stress of hearing that his son had been rushed to hospital that day and his death days later have clouded his recollections “on some things.”
In 2021, OPP detectives laid a manslaughter charge against Van Hoof. The charge came less than a week after a Toronto Star investigative series on the case was published. The series was also published as a podcast.
The trial continues on Monday."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
———————————————————————————————
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
------------------------------------------------------------------
