Title: Mother Accused of Causing Toddler's Death in Court

In a tense courtroom confrontation, the defense attorney for a babysitter charged in the death of a toddler accused the boy’s mother of causing and concealing her son’s fatal injury. During the seventh day of cross-examination, defense lawyer Geoff Snow questioned Rose-Anne Van De Wiele, the mother of Nathaniel McLellan, about her actions leading up to the incident.

Snow asked, "You wonder how this could have been different if you had just told Meggin Van Hoof, as you were handing your son off — if you had just told her he had a hit on the head last night, keep an eye on him?" Van De Wiele firmly denied this, stating, "I have not wondered that because that is not true."

Snow suggested that Van De Wiele had spent the last decade trying to shift blame onto his client for the death of 15-month-old Nathaniel, who died in October 2015. He claimed she had kept crucial information secret, including an accidental injury from a door bump the night before Nathaniel was taken to daycare. Van De Wiele countered that her son was fine when she dropped him off that morning before going to her job as a Grade 4 teacher.

She testified that six doctors who treated Nathaniel indicated he would have been unresponsive almost immediately after sustaining the serious head trauma. The babysitter, Meggin Van Hoof, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the trial presided over by Justice Michael Carnegie, which is being conducted without a jury.

The court heard that Van Hoof called Van De Wiele on October 27, informing her that Nathaniel had “fallen and hit his head.” Van De Wiele rushed him to the hospital, where he died four days later on October 31.

During the cross-examination, Snow accused Van De Wiele of using the court process to deflect blame from herself. "For you, this is a process of taking the blame off you — having the public think this wasn’t you," he stated. Van De Wiele responded, "No, this wasn’t me."

Snow continued to assert that Van De Wiele was intent on having Van Hoof charged. He pointed to her research into children’s aid society protocols and police interview techniques, implying she was preparing for police questioning. When asked by crown attorney Meredith Gardiner if this research occurred before or after her police interviews, Van De Wiele clarified it was after.

Snow also suggested that Van De Wiele admitted to causing Nathaniel’s injury after arriving at the hospital. He highlighted that Nathaniel was stiff and unresponsive when she picked him up from the babysitter. Van De Wiele described a chaotic scene in the emergency room, stating, "I picked him up and his whole body fell backwards. I mean wildly fell backwards. That’s where he could have hurt himself."

Snow pressed her on whether she was admitting to hurting Nathaniel, but Van De Wiele maintained that he was already unresponsive when she collected him. She expressed her belief that he was dead at that moment.

The court also examined audio recordings Van De Wiele made of meetings with doctors who treated Nathaniel. She explained that she wanted to document their discussions to understand what happened to her son. However, she has not shared these recordings with law enforcement or the defense. Snow claimed she withheld them because they contradicted her narrative. Van De Wiele refuted this, stating she lost faith in the police and believed investigators viewed her as a suspect.

When asked if she would release the recordings, Van De Wiele replied no, citing concerns about how her words had been misrepresented. The judge cautioned her to maintain the integrity of the recordings in case they are needed later. The trial is set to continue Thursday, with Nathaniel’s case having previously been covered in a series and podcast.