Ebony Thompson: Childcare centre and worker fined over toddler death

A childcare centre has been fined $40,000 and one of its workers $2000 for failing to protect a toddler who choked to death on a loop-top fence by a chicken coop.

Ebony Thompson, aged 22 months, died after her neck became stuck on the fence at a daycare southeast of Darwin in 2023.

Childcare worker Casandra Lee Harris and the Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre pleaded guilty to failing to protect children from harm and hazards and inadequately supervising children.

Ebony’s parents Floyd and Jade Thompson arrived at Darwin Local Court on Monday backed by supporters wearing purple, the toddler’s favourite colour.

Judge Stephen Geary told the court it was the first time such prosecutions had come before a Northern Territory court.

The centre and its staff had failed to take an opportunity from a regulator’s report to fix a blind spot near the chicken coop where workers could not see children if they were there.

The culpability of Harris was less than that of the centre and she was a “very caring childcare supervisor” who would have to live with the tragedy for the rest of her life, the judge said.

He read from the impact statement of parents saying Ebony was”the most amazing little girl you could ever imagine”.

Following the sentencing, the Thompsons hugged each other in the public gallery.

A childcare worker found Ebony trapped on the fence, upright and blue in the face, the court heard.

She was rushed to hospital but died two days later.

Ebony’s family has called for a ban on loop-top fencing under a proposed “Ebony’s Law” and wants a three-strikes rule for supervision breaches that would temporarily close childcare centres pending safety rectifications.

Two charges against another childcare worker at the centre, Gurmeet Kaur Rimpy, were dropped on October 1.

The centre’s director, Rachel Lee Marsh, is understood to be contesting charges laid against her, to be heard at a later date.