A Supreme Court jury is expected to begin deliberations on Thursday in the trial of a former childcare worker charged over the death of a toddler who was left on a minibus.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains an image of a person who has died.
Dionne Batrice Grills, 36, was a passenger on the bus that collected Maliq Nicholas Floyd Namok-Malamoo, three, from his home south of Cairns on February 18, 2020.
The boy, known affectionately as Meeky, died of heat stress that day after he was forgotten on the minibus.
Ms Grills has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.
Several of Ms Grills' former colleagues at the Goodstart Early Learning Centre in Edmonton have given evidence in the trial.
Among the witnesses was the bus driver, former centre director Michael Glenn Lewis, who is serving a six-year prison sentence for Meeky's death.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter last year.
Defence points blame at driver
To find Ms Grills guilty of manslaughter, the jury must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that she had a duty of care to Meeky at the relevant time, that her omission to perform that duty was criminally negligent, and that it substantially or significantly contributed to the toddler's death.
Defence counsel Tony Kimmins told the jury in his closing submission that Ms Grills left the bus when it returned to the childcare centre, leaving Lewis, her boss, on board with Meeky.
"If he turned the vehicle off, got out of the driver's side, closed the door and locked it, who was in charge of the bus then?" Mr Kimmins said.
"A locked bus and he had the key. And he walked inside the childcare centre office with the key and the vehicle locked.
The court heard it was not known at what time Meeky died, but he remained on the bus for several hours after Lewis drove it to another childcare centre and left it parked in the sun.
"The fact the child died, and Dionne Grills was on that bus at some stage earlier, does not mean that she had been criminally negligent and that she deserves to be convicted of this particular offence," Mr Kimmins said.
Child needed to be 'safe'
Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane told the jury Ms Grills was an experienced educator whose duty of care to Meeky did not finish until the child was "safe".
Mr Crane said Lewis had been "frenetic" and stressed about being late for a meeting as he drove the bus, while Meeky was "probably asleep in the back".
He questioned whether Ms Grills could "be sure that child was going to be safe in the circumstances" as she walked away from the bus.
Mr Crane told the jury to consider evidence from Ms Grills' former colleagues, some of whom testified about helping children disembark during drop-offs when they rode the bus as passengers.
"It's the very reason they are on the bus. They are educators in rooms but sometimes they are called upon in their day-to-day duty to assist with bus transportation."
The jury will begin deliberations after Justice Peter Applegarth finishes summing up the case.
