PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The Star earlier profiled Nathaniel’s case in both a written and podcast series, Death in a Small Town. Some witnesses have it is hard to recall certain events from 2015. In one instance, Shanlea Tyler, who had children in the home daycare, could not recall specifics she told police in an interview at the start of the investigation. Carnegie ruled Tuesday that “admissibility requirements have been met."
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STORY: "New information on colour of babysitter’s wagon brought forward in Nathaniel McLellan case," by Chief Investigative Reporter Kevin Donovan, published by The Toronto Star, on February 17, 2026. (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: "Wagon’s colour has come up frequently in the manslaughter trial, and relates to the credibility of witnesses recalling information from 10 years ago."
GIST: "The mother of a dead toddler was recalled to the witness stand in London, Ont., on Tuesday to provide new information she’d dug up on the colour of a wagon used by the babysitter on trial for manslaughter.
Rose-Anne Van De Wiele said she has found proof that she was right when she said the wagon was red. “It was a photo of a red wagon, which appears to be taken in the Van Hoofs’ garage,” Van De Wiele testified. “And they were selling it for $75.”
The picture — a photo of a Facebook posting on a computer screen — was shown in court Tuesday, but Judge Michael Carnegie has not yet ruled whether it will be admitted as evidence.
Van De Wiele’s son, Nathaniel McLellan, died in October 2015 of a massive head injury.
Crown prosecutors allege that babysitter Meggin Van Hoof either caused the 15-month-old’s head trauma, or that she contributed to his death by failing to call 911.
Court has heard that Nathaniel became unwell at Van Hoof’s home, where she ran an unlicensed daycare. Van Hoof then called Nathaniel’s mother, and brought him to meet her on the street near where Van De Wiele taught elementary school.
The colour of the wagon has come up frequently in the lengthy trial, which began in September. It’s a seemingly minor but important issue — it relates to the credibility of witnesses recalling information from 10 years ago.
When Van De Wiele and other witnesses testified earlier, they consistently described the wagon as red.
Van De Wiele said that when she met Van Hoof and took charge of her son (who she has described as stiff and unresponsive) that day more than 10 years ago, Van Hoof was holding Nathaniel in one arm and pulling a “red” wagon with her other hand.
But defence lawyer Geoff Snow repeatedly put to Van De Wiele and other witnesses in cross-examination that the wagon was brown.
Back in September, Snow showed a photo taken by police of the inside of Van Hoof’s garage. A brown wooden wagon can be seen in one section of the garage.
“The wagon is not red,” Snow said in the earlier hearing. “The wagon is sort of a brown, wood colour,” Snow said.
Van De Wiele replied, “I may have gotten that wrong ... in my mind it had red on it.”
Then came what appears to be new information. Tuesday, Crown attorney Meredith Gardiner received permission from Carnegie to recall Van De Wiele to the witness stand.
Carnegie said he was allowing the recall (she had previously testified and been cross-examined for a total of nine days) because the “reliability of witness evidence has implicitly been called into question.”
Carnegie, in his ruling allowing this information into court, referred to it as a “possible post-offence sale of a red wagon.”
Court heard that after completing her testimony, Van De Wiele attended court and heard other witnesses asked about the colour of the wagon. This nagged at her, court heard, and she recalled that back in 2022 — the year after Van Hoof was charged — she and friends had noticed a Facebook posting by Brian Van Hoof, Meggin’s husband, selling a “red wagon.”
Van De Wiele apologized for not raising this earlier when questioned. She told the court how she recalled it, then brought it forward to the court. “Someone had mentioned the red wagon to me, and I just kept seeing a picture of a red wagon come up in my head. So I decided to look, because I knew I had a picture somewhere, and I saw this photo,” Van De Wiele told court.
Carnegie will rule Wednesday morning on whether he will admit the photo of the red wagon into evidence.
The Star earlier profiled Nathaniel’s case in both a written and podcast series, Death in a Small Town.
Some witnesses have it is hard to recall certain events from 2015. In one instance, Shanlea Tyler, who had children in the home daycare, could not recall specifics she told police in an interview at the start of the investigation. Carnegie ruled Tuesday that “admissibility requirements have been met."
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 AMFINAL 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:
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;
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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;
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