A preliminary hearing will soon be scheduled in the manslaughter case involving the death of 15-month old Nathaniel McLellan in 2015, a London court heard Wednesday.
Meggin Van Hoof, who was looking after Nathaniel the day he collapsed, faces a charge of manslaughter. The case was extensively profiled in a Toronto Star series, Death in a Small Town, which has now been made into a Natpodcast that will debut Monday.
During a brief court hearing in London Thursday, crown attorney Jason Miller and defense lawyer Jenny Prosser told court that a judicial pre-trial is scheduled for June 1. One was previously scheduled and cancelled. Both lawyers said the case is now moving forward.
“The crown will do what is necessary to ensure there are no more delays in this matter,” said Miller.
Prosser, Van Hoof’s lawyer, and a previous lawyer on the case, had experienced significant delays in obtaining disclosure from the crown’s office. The charge was laid by the Ontario Provincial Police almost one year ago.
Court heard that a judicial pre-trial will be held June 1. Judicial pre-trials are an opportunity for the crown and defense to have frank discussions of issues related to the case. Judicial pre-trials are held between the crown and defence, in front of a Superior Court Justice. Publication of information from the pre-trial is not allowed.
Prosser, Van Hoof’s lawyer, said she is hopeful that if the pre-trial meeting with the crown goes well, they will be able to set a date for a preliminary hearing the next day, June. 2. A preliminary hearing is an opportunity for the crown to present its case. A judge will then decide if there is enough evidence to move the case forward to trial.
On Oct. 27, 2015, as the Star series detailed, Van Hoof called Rose-Anne McLellan, Nathaniel’s mother, to tell her the child was in distress. Rose-Anne picked her son up and rushed him to hospital in London where doctors determined he had a fracture in the back of his skull. Nathaniel was declared brain-dead and removed from life support on Oct. 31, 2015. As part of its comprehensive coverage of the case, the Star published a video detailing the timeline of events. As the Star series detailed, the Strathroy-Caradoc police and the OPP initially focused on Nathaniel’s parents as suspects.
A preview to the The Death in a Small Town podcast is available here. The seven-part series will be available, one episode each week starting Monday, at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, amazon, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. All episodes will be available to Star subscribers Monday at thestar.com.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free)