Inquest into the death of Michael Paul Keith Smedley
[2017] NTLC 1
•13 January 2017
CITATION: Inquest into the death of Michael Paul Keith Smedley
[2017] NTLC 001
TITLE OF COURT: Coroners Court JURISDICTION: Alice Springs FILE NO(s): A0042/2012 DELIVERED ON: 13 January 2017 DELIVERED AT: Alice Springs HEARING DATE(s): 12 – 13 December 2016 FINDING OF: Judge Greg Cavanagh CATCHWORDS: Baby died of traumatic head injury,
initial disagreement between medical
experts, disagreement resolved,
referred back to PoliceREPRESENTATION: Counsel Assisting: Kelvin Currie Judgment category classification: B
Judgement ID number: [2017] NTLC 001 Number of paragraphs: 54 Number of pages: 13
IN THE CORONERS COURT
AT ALICE SPRINGS IN THE NORTHERN
TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA
No. A0042/2012
In the matter of an Inquest into the death of
MICHAEL PAUL KEITH SMEDLEY
ON 26 JULY 2012
AT ALICE SPRINGS HOSPITAL
FINDINGS
Judge Greg Cavanagh
Introduction
Michael Paul Keith Smedley (the deceased), a five month old Caucasian
baby boy was born 8 February 2012 to his mother Tayla Smedley in Alice
Springs. He was born at 40 weeks and three days and weighed 3.2
kilograms. In the hospital notes he was said to be a “very well-looking
newborn”.
His mother was 16 years of age at the time and found his care challenging.
She sought assistance from friends. At the time of his death Michael was in
the care of Tamara Cole and her partner Oliver Deighton along with
Tamara’s children, a boy aged 12 and a girl aged 13. Michael had been in
their care for about six weeks.
The usual daily routine was that Michael went to day-care five days a week.
The times he was in day-care differed depending upon the times that Tamara
and Oliver were working.
On 26 July 2012 at 6.00am Michael was woken by Tamara and given a
bottle. He was put back to bed at about 7.30am in his cot. Fifteen minutes
later Tamara picked up her partner Oliver from work. He had just finished a
nightshift. While she was out Michael was in the care of Tamara’s 12 year
old son. After returning with Oliver, Tamara took her son to school. On her
return, Michael woke and was placed in his walker in the lounge room.
Ordinarily, Tamara said she would have taken Michael to the day-care
centre at that point. However, she was running late and so decided to go to
work and take him to day-care a little later when she had a break. Tamara
left for work at about 9.20am. She said that when she left Michael was
healthy and had just one bruise that was in the middle of his back.
In his statement to Police later that day Oliver said that after Tamara left he
sat on the couch and watched television with Michael playing in front of
him. He said that at about 10.30am he saw Michael rubbing his eyes. He
picked him up, took him to the bedroom where he put him on his back in his
cot. He tried to give him his formula but Michael refused. He put the
blankets over Michael up to and under his chin. He stated that Michael was
very quiet. He said he then went back out and watched television for about
15 minutes until Tamara came home.
About 10.40am Tamara had a break at work and came home to take Michael
to day-care. She arrived at about 10.50am. She said she was surprised Oliver
and Michael were not still playing in the front room.
She went directly to the toilet and Oliver went to get Michael. Oliver said he
found Michael not breathing and limp. Tamara said Oliver screamed and she
knew something was wrong. She took Michael from Oliver and took him to
the kitchen table and immediately started cardio pulmonary resuscitation.
The ambulance was called and paramedics arrived at 11.01am. The
paramedics continued resuscitation attempts and transported Michael to
hospital, arriving at 11.24am. Michael was intubated and ventilated.
While in hospital the doctors were concerned about the extensive bilateral
retinal haemorrhages and bruising to Michael’s body. They sought
explanation for the bruising and had an ophthalmological registrar provide
an opinion on the retinal haemorrhages.
A CT Brain scan was performed that showed small areas of haemorrhage.
The doctors were suspicious of non-accidental injury. The paediatrician was
of the view that Michael had been “shaken vigorously”.
The prognosis for Michael was extremely poor and in the presence of his
mother and carers he was extubated at 3.40pm. He was pronounced deceased
at 4.05pm.
After Michael’s death and while cleaning him up it was noticed by the
paediatrician that he had a “large patulous anus” (open anus). It was thought
that may be consistent with anal penetration.
The following day (27 July 2012) the Forensic Medical Officer took swabs
from 1.5 centimetres into the anal canal and just outside of the anal canal. It
was noted at the time that there were three “very superficial” grazes on the
right side of the perineum.
That afternoon the Police called Tamara to say they were coming to the
house as they needed to take items. Tamara said to Oliver, “I feel there is
something that you are not telling us because they are treating us like
suspects and they want to come to our home and take stuff”.
Oliver then said, “I need to tell you something. I need to change my
statement. Do you remember when Shaun came to get the keys for the ute? I
was in the middle of changing Michael’s nappy. I heard a knock at the door.
I left Michael on the change table. I gave Shaun the keys. I came back and
Michael was rolling off the change table. I caught him.”
When the Police arrived Oliver said, “I need to change my statement, I
didn’t put in about Shaun coming to the door. I was changing Michael on the
change table, went to the door, Shaun was at the door. Michael fell off the
change table, I caught him”.
Oliver was taken back to the Police Station where he provided a record of
interview. In that interview he said that after Tamara left for work at about
9.15am he stayed watching television until about 9.45am, when Michael
started to rub his eyes. He picked him up and took him to the change table.
Then “over the music” he heard a knock at the door. He turned the music
off, went to the front door and gave Shaun the keys. As he was coming back
to the change table, Michael had wriggled down so that his legs were over
the edge and then he slipped over the end of the table and as he did so his
head came forward.
Oliver said that he caught him (he later demonstrated that to be under the
arms). He said at that stage Michael was hiccupping. He put him to bed and
pulled the blankets up to his chin. He said he was still hiccupping. He left
him in the cot and went back to watch television. Half an hour later Tamara
came home. He went to get Michael and found him unresponsive and took
him to Tamara.
At no time during any of his interviews with Police did Oliver indicate why
he had the music turned up so loudly. Tamara said that Oliver didn’t like
loud music.
Shaun said he went to pick up the keys at about 9.45am. As he drove up he
could hear loud music playing. He knocked on the front door and got no
response. He went to the window of the room from which he thought the
music was coming and knocked on the window. He then went back to the
front door and knocked harder. The music was turned down and Oliver came
to the front door. He opened the door and gave Shaun the keys. Shaun did
not hear or see Michael at all. He assumed he must have been asleep.
I also heard ‘second hand’ evidence from Tamara that some weeks after the
death of Michael, a friend of Tamara’s, Kelly told her that while she was at
the hospital on the day Michael died, Oliver was sitting next to her. When
they saw Police attend Oliver said, “they will be coming to speak to me
about the unexplained bruising Michael had”.
At 10.00am on 28 July 2012 an autopsy was conducted by Dr Eric
Donaldson. He found a significant number of bruises and abrasions on the
deceased’s body:
“Signs of recent injury:
1. The following contusions were present:
(i) Over the right cheek, pinkish purple and poorly defined approximately 20 x 8mm. (ii) Under the left side of the jaw line, pinkish purple 22 x 13mm. (iii) Anterior aspect of the right shoulder, pinkish purple 25 x 15mm. (iv) Anterior aspect of the right upper chest, just below the clavicle, pinkish purple, 15 mm in maximum extent. (v) Anterior aspect of the left upper chest, just below the clavicle, pinkish purple 30 x 20mm. (vi) Left mid back, light brown and obliquely orientated, 55 x 9mm. (vii) Right mid to lower back, light brown 20 x 12mm. (viii) Left and right thenar eminences, each 10mm.
(ix) Sole of the right foot, purple 55 x 20mm. (x)
Lateral aspect of the left foot, below the ankle, 20 x 10mm.
(xi)
Lateral aspect of the left foot, anterior to (x) above, 10mm in maximum dimension.
2. The following abrasions were present:
(i) Lower left occipital region, 11 x 5mm. (ii) Over the sternum, linear scratch 3mm in length. (iii) Dorsum of the right hand, linear scratch, 7mm in length.”
In addition he found subdural haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage.
Dr Donaldson was of the opinion that the deceased died of traumatic head
injury.
The summary of Dr Donaldson’s autopsy report reads:
“1. At autopsy, significant findings (including those
identified at neuropathological examination by Dr A
Tannenberg; see attached report) identified were:(i) Diffuse bilateral subdural haemorrhage.
(ii) Subarachnoid haemorrhage.
(iii) Cerebral swelling.
(iv) Bilateral retinal haemorrhages.
(v) Contusions over the upper left side of the neck, upper left and right anterior chest, back, thenar eminences, lateral aspect of the left foot and sole
of the right foot.
(vi) Normally developed male infant aged 20 weeks, at the 90th weight for length percentile.
(vii) Mild mucosal inflammation at ano-rectal junction.
(viii) Focal excoriation of peri anal skin.
2. Samples of cardiac blood and urine as well as bile and liver were taken at autopsy for toxicological analysis. No alcohol or drugs were identified within the blood.
3. There were no features at post mortem examination to indicate natural disease or drug toxicity as a cause of death. Rather, there was strong evidence to indicate that
traumatic brain injury has caused his demise. In the
absence of evidence of discreet localised injury to the
head/scalp, skull or brain, the injuries as indicated
above would be in keeping with having been sustained
by severe acceleration/de acceleration force applied to
the head. The contusions/bruises to the neck, anterior
chest, thenar eminences and feet were fresh (having a
macroscopic appearance of being of more recent origin
than those on the back). The peri anal skin lesions had
an appearance consistent with small foci of excoriation,
having occurred prior to death. The buttock rash had
appearances suggestive of nappy rash. There was mild
mucosal inflammation at the ano-rectal junction. The
histologic appearances were non-specific and the cause
of the inflammatory change is uncertain. The bruising to
the sole of the foot was due to haemorrhage in the very
superficial layer of the skin ie. intraepidermal. This is
quite an unusual type of contusion, always associated
with trauma/physical injury such that the designation‘post-traumatic cutaneous intracorneal blood’ has been proposed. The bruise was fresh such that the
haemorrhage leeched out of the epidermis leaving theempty intracorneal spaces seen in the histology slides.”
He sent the brain, spinal cord and eyes of the deceased to Dr AEG
Tannenberg, a Forensic Neuropathologist at the Queensland Medical
Laboratory.
Doctor Tannenberg in his report concluded:
“Summary of neuropathological findings:
1. Increased brain weight with evidence of cerebral swelling (brain weight 806 grams, expected 660 grams).
2. Minor subarachnoid haemorrhage.
3. No evidence of contusional damage.
4. Normally developed brain.
5. Retinal haemorrhages.6. From General Forensic Autopsy – Dr E Donaldson:
Small bilateral subdural haemorrhages (approx.
20ml).
No scalp bruising, no skull fractures.
Interpretation
The constellation of findings are consistent with the
‘shaken baby syndrome’ with short survival. This
constellation includes brain swelling, retinal haemorrhages
and small subdural haemorrhages.
There was no evidence of blunt trauma to the skull, scalp or
brain.”
In evidence he said in his opinion the scenario proffered, of the child
slipping off the table and being caught:
“would be too brief and the kind of
acceleration/deceleration force over that very short period
of a fall, wouldn’t be enough to produce these changes”.
Doctor Tannenberg sent the slides and paraffin blocks to Dr T Robertson,
the Director of Neuropathology at Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital, for
Amyloid Precursor Protein Staining.
Dr Robertson is an anatomical pathologist and specialises in Forensic
Neuropathology. He supported the findings of Dr Donaldson and Dr
Tannenberg. He commented:
“There is evidence of a significant head injury with short
survival including: Cerebral swelling, extensive bilateral
subdural haemorrhages, subarachnoid haemorrhage, and
bilateral retinal and optic nerve sheath haemorrhages”.
In his opinion the pattern of the Amyloid Precursor Protein Staining was
overall indicative of hypoxic-ischaemic injury secondary to brain swelling
which he believed to be consistent with the non-accidental injury indicated
by the findings of Dr Donaldson and Dr Tannenberg.
Meanwhile, the samples collected from inside and outside of the anus (along
with other samples from the child, the house and Oliver were sent to the
pathology laboratory for analysis.
On 14 August 2012, a forensic scientist tested the samples with the
confirmatory test for semen but the test returned a negative result in all
cases.
The scientist then looked under the microscope at a slide taken from the
sample from inside the anal canal of the deceased. She saw seven
spermatozoa heads. The tails were not seen, but they degrade quickly and so
were not expected to be seen. She gave evidence that at that point in time
the laboratory for which she worked did not have the equipment to take a
photograph of the slide.
However, she asked a fellow scientist at the laboratory to confirm what she
saw. The confirmation was provided.
The slide had been heat-fixed which ordinarily preserves the slide. However
when she went back to look at it once more on 27 August 2012 the slide had
degraded. There were no sperm heads able to be positively identified on that
occasion.
There was also insufficient DNA to produce a profile despite amplification
using the Identifier Kit. Another forensic scientist gave evidence that a more
sensitive kit, the Powerplex 21, should have been used to analyse the DNA
as it is much more sensitive. However, I heard evidence that the kit was not
available until April 2013 (well after the time the sample was tested in
August 2012).
The final outcome is that although spermatozoa heads were visualised on the
swab, DNA testing was unable to determine who it was that produced them.
The Police investigator also obtained an opinion from a Structural Engineer.
He was of the opinion that the “fall and catch situation” described by Oliver
may have been sufficient to give rise to the injuries. However that opinion
appeared contrary to medical opinion generally to do with shaken baby
syndrome and was not supported by the medical experts in this case.
The Police Investigator then provided the evidence to Dr Terence Donald, a
paediatric forensic physician from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in
Adelaide. His report dated 10 June 2013 provided a great deal of
information. He indicated that a “patulous anus” was not indicative of
sexual assault but a common finding in children under anaesthetic or when
deceased. He was of the opinion that the bruising was suspicious. However
he cast doubt on whether or not the head injuries were of traumatic origin.
He concluded that the cause of death must remain open.
That left the Police investigation at a difficult juncture. The investigator
obtained an opinion on the prospects of a prosecution from the DPP. That
was to the effect that further expert opinions should be obtained.
They were obtained, but those opinions related to further testing of the DNA
samples. Those tests were unsuccessful . There was not sufficient DNA
remaining. The final report in relation to that further testing only became
available on 5 May 2016.
Due to the contradictory nature of the expert evidence the mother of the
deceased sought that the evidence be heard at an inquest. In the exercise of
my discretion to hold an inquest the matter was listed for 12 and 13
December 2016.
At the inquest the medical experts were called to clarify their opinions.
Doctor Donald gave evidence that having reviewed the report of Dr
Robertson he was of the opinion that the injuries were in fact traumatic inorigin. That was very much different from the opinion expressed in his
report of 10 June 2013 and overcame the previous contradictions in the
evidence of the medical experts.
He also indicated that the “fall and catch” scenario could not have caused
the injuries. Indeed he was of the opinion that even if the deceased had not
been caught and had fallen to the hard floor surface, he would not have
sustained the injuries that led to his death.
Dr Donald was even more expressive about the bruising and stated that the
bruising to the sole of the deceased’s left foot was “sinister”.
Oliver Deighton was summonsed to give evidence. He stated he thought the
bruising would have taken 18 hours to develop and so might have been
inflicted the day before. When asked why he didn’t mention to Police in his
first statement that he had the baby on the change table and that he had
slipped off, Oliver said that he didn’t wish to say anything further on the
grounds that it may incriminate him in the death of Michael.
Section 38 Coroners Act provides that a person may be compelled to answer
questions if a certificate is provided. However the certificate prevents his
answers being used in any other proceedings.
I refused to issue a certificate and excused Oliver from answering further
questions.
Pursuant to section 34 of the Coroner’s Act, I find as follows:
(i) The identity of the deceased was Michael Paul Keith Smedley,
born on 8 February 2012, in Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
(ii) The time of death was 4.05pm on 26 July 2012. The place of
death was Alice Springs Hospital in the Northern Territory.
(iii) The cause of death was traumatic head injury.
(iv) The particulars required to register the death:
1. The deceased was Michael Paul Keith Smedley.
2. The deceased was of Caucasian descent.
3. The deceased was five months old at the time of his death.
4. The death was reported to the coroner by the Alice Springs
Hospital.
5. The cause of death was confirmed by Forensic Pathologist,
Doctor Eric Donaldson.
6. The deceased’s mother was Tayla Smedley and his father is
not known (it was found through DNA testing that the
person named on the birth certificate was not the father).
I may make recommendations pursuant to section 35(1), (2) & (3):
“(1) A coroner may report to the Attorney-General on a death or disaster investigated by the coroner.
(2) A coroner may make recommendations to the Attorney-General on a matter, including public health or safety or the administration of justice connected with a death or disaster investigated by the coroner.
(3) A coroner shall report to the Commissioner of under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act if the coroner believes that a crime may have been committed in connection with a death or disaster investigated by the
coroner.”
The original issue that confronted the investigator was the contradictory
medical opinions. Those contradictions have resolved. I therefore intend to
return the matter to Police.
Report
I believe that offences may have been committed in connection with the
death of Michael Paul Keith Smedley and in accordance with section 35(3) I
report my belief to the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public
Prosecutions.
Dated this 13th day of January 2017.
_________________________
JUDGE GREG CAVANAGH
TERRITORY CORONER
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