A court has heard that the man charged with murdering a 23-month-old toddler in Dubbo last year was employed by an organisation funded by the Department of Community Services (DoCS) at the time.
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It also heard that the man, who has no criminal history, blamed himself in a way for the child’s death.
Matthew Allen James Dennis, 21, told detectives in an interview played in Orange Supreme Court yesterday that he was a trainee caseworker and on Thursday, March 20, 2008, had attended a training session.
The case, which has been going for six days, centres around the suspicious death of the toddler at a Brisbane Street unit on Friday, March 21, 2008.
The 11 jury members and Acting Justice Graham Barr were shown two interviews involving Mr Dennis.
The first was conducted by Detective Senior Constable Luke Scott and Detective Senior Constable Lonita Shaw on the afternoon of March 21.
In it, Mr Dennis described the toddler as a “little rough nut” who was a “good kid” and “full of energy”.
He also spoke of his movements on the day in question, stating that he had gone to the South Dubbo Tavern and then the Pastoral Hotel with a friend named Lawrence Fogg.
According to the interview, when Mr Dennis got to the unit the toddler was walking around.
He said the child was crying when he got home so he put him in the shower “to calm him down a bit”.
Not long after, he said he heard a bang from the bathroom and when he walked in, noticed the child picking itself up from the floor.
He was also quoted as saying “I put him in the shower all the time”.
Declaring that the child didn’t cry after its apparent fall, Mr Dennis said he didn’t think twice about putting the toddler to bed after dressing him.
“I saw him holding his chin and saw a little bruise coming up,” Mr Dennis said.
“He wasn’t screaming so I didn’t think much of it.
“I know you don’t put a kid to sleep if it has hit its head hard, that’s why I hate myself for it.”
The second interview was conducted on Monday by Detective Senior Constable Scott and was a ‘walk through’ account of what happened at the unit.
On that occasion, Mr Dennis told Detective Senior Constable Scott that the toddler was crying but had no tears after the noise came from the shower.
He admitted that the child was able to communicate if it had been hurt and said that on this occasion no such communication was made.
The following morning, Mr Dennis said that he made his way into the room where the toddler was sleeping and picked it up out of its cot before running downstairs to call triple-0 at another unit.
When he took the toddler out of the cot, he said its skin colour was “lighter than normal” and its eyes were closed.
In both interviews, Detective Senior Constable Scott asked Mr Dennis if he had any involvement in the toddler’s death.
Both times, Mr Dennis answered “no”.
The trial will continue today with Crown Prosecutor Wayne Creasey expected to conclude the prosecution case.
Defence barrister John Spencer is then expected to put forward the case for his client before both men begin their closing arguments towards the end of the week.
