A 35-year-old man is accused of killing his girlfriend’s toddler by striking the child with a large table, according to the prosecution.
Stacie Saggers invited Brendan Pallant to come in with her a few days after they met while she was still grieving the loss of her spouse.
However, Brendan Pallant, 35, is accused of killing the toddler of the Melbourne lady 24 days later while babysitting him with a metal table.
Snuffles, also known as Jaidyn Gomes-Sebastiao, was only two years old when he passed away on September 2, 2019.
Pallant is awaiting trial in Victoria’s Supreme Court after entering a not-guilty plea to the boy’s murder.
The 35-year-old is accused of entering the toddler’s bedroom and hitting him with a 4.5 kilogram table because he was upset, enraged, and lacked self-control, according to prosecutor Mark Gibson, who spoke before the jury on Wednesday.
However, as there were no direct witnesses or video evidence to support Pallant striking Jaidyn, the case will rest on circumstantial evidence.
Mr. Gibson remarked, “It’s a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle. The clarity of the picture when the jigsaw puzzle is put together determines the case’s strength, not any individual piece of the puzzle.
In August 2019, Ms. Saggers and Pallant were connected through a common friend, and a few days later, they moved in together because she needed help taking care of her two kids while she was at work.
Nine months after her spouse and the father of two of her children died in a motorbike accident, she was still in sorrow.
Ms. Saggers discovered Jaidyn had an eye bruising the day before he passed away and took pictures to record it. She thought a bookshelf might have fallen and caused it.
She left Pallant to watch her kids the next day while she went to a cleaning job.
Jaidyn was sleeping in his room when Pallant called Ms. Saggers as she was en route home.
When she went home, he warned her not to “rock the boat” and annoy the young child.
After taking a snooze in their room, the couple checked on Jaidyn shortly after 4 o’clock.
When Pallant opened Jaidyn’s bedroom door, the toddler was laying on the floor with a multicolored activity table on top of him, according to Pallant, who told police there was resistance.
Pallant picked up the young child, carried him into the living room, and placed him on the floor.
Emergency services were contacted after Ms. Saggers became upset upon seeing her injured child, and a neighbor arrived quickly after hearing her screams.
Due to injuries to his brain and skull, EMS pronounced Jaidyn dead at the site. There were several bruises and scratches all over his body.
On Wednesday in the afternoon, as the trial before Justice Jane Dixon goes on, Pallant’s attorney will address the jury.