A childcare centre in the Northern Territory has been fined $40,000 and a worker $2,000 over the death of 22-month-old Ebony Thompson, who became trapped by her neck on a loop-top fence at the facility in 2023.
Ebony was found near a chicken coop at the Humpty Doo Community and Child Care Centre, south-east of Darwin. She was taken to hospital but died two days later.
Childcare worker Casandra Lee Harris and the centre pleaded guilty to failing to protect children from harm and hazards, as well as inadequate supervision.
Darwin Local Court heard that Ebony had been left completely unsupervised and was not found to be missing until it was too late. A childcare worker discovered her upright and blue in the face, with her neck caught on the fence.
Judge Stephen Geary said the case was the first prosecution of its kind to come before a Northern Territory court. He said the centre and its staff had missed opportunities, identified in safety inspectors’ reports, to address a blind spot and introduce walk-through checks of the area.
Judge Geary said Harris’s culpability was less than that of the centre, describing her as a caring childcare supervisor who would have to live with her role in Ebony’s death for the rest of her life.
Ebony’s parents, Floyd and Jade Thompson, attended the sentencing on Monday with supporters wearing purple, which had been their daughter’s favourite colour. Reading from their impact statement, Judge Geary said the couple described her as “the most amazing little girl you could ever imagine”.
“She was a combination of everyone’s greatest qualities. She was kind, full of light and love … and walked this earth with such easy care,” her parents wrote.
Following the sentencing, the Thompsons hugged in the public gallery alongside their supporters.
The family has called for a ban on loop-top fencing under a proposed “Ebony’s Law”. They also want a three-strikes rule for supervision breaches, which would temporarily close childcare centres until safety problems had been rectified.
Two charges against another 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 which will be heard at a later date.
