Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre and three workers charged after death of toddler Ebony Thompson

An Australian childcare centre and three staff have been charged over the death of Ebony Thompson in an accidental hanging when the toddler was left unsupervised for several minutes.

The charges laid by the education department against Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre, near Darwin, and three nominated supervisors include inadequately supervising children and failing to protect children from harm and hazards.

Both offences fall under section 165 of the National Education and Care Services legislation, with both the provider and individuals facing heavy financial penalties if found guilty.

Ebony, aged 22 months, was blue and unresponsive when found by staff trapped between the loops of a 90cm-high pool-style gate to a chicken coop.

Northern Territory Early Education Minister Jo Hersey said it was the first time NT childcare staff had been charged, “which sends a clear message that child safety must come first”.

“My thoughts are with the family who live with the loss of their daughter Ebony every single day,” Hersey said on Tuesday.

“Childcare centres need to be held accountable, and I will not hesitate to take action against providers who do not meet National Quality Standards.

“Centres who are not meeting National Quality Standards need to fix their act fast.”

Hersey said an overhaul of Quality Education and Care NT, the regulatory authority in the Territory, will be announced in the coming weeks, with plans to cut funding from centres not meeting national standards.

NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage determined Ebony had suffered irreversible brain damage caused by accidental hanging when she tried to peer at chickens and slipped.

The gate, constructed in the style of many loop-topped pool fences but only about waist-high to most adults, was situated in a known playground “supervision blind spot”.

In all, the little girl was found to have been unaccounted for over a period of about 10 minutes.

Delivering her findings in October, Armitage said it was difficult to understand how a yard check was not part of the centre’s active supervision strategy and calling it a “systemic failure on the part of the centre and QECNT“.

“Ebony was entrapped for four minutes or more,” she said.

“Accepting the expert evidence ... concerning the speed at which a child would become unconscious due to compression of the neck and thereafter suffer irreversible brain injury, I am satisfied that when she was found her injury was catastrophic and unsurvivable.”

Armitage recommended NT authorities push for standards in the national framework that address entrapment risks, and for the territory’s government to undertake a public awareness campaign around the dangers of loop and rod-topped fencing.

Ebony’s family have called for loop-style pool fencing to be banned and a “three-strike” rule for centres that breach supervision obligations.