Defence spent day grilling father of toddler at manslaughter trial

The father of a toddler who died while in the care of his one-time babysitter faced questioning by the defence on Thursday. CTV’s Nick Paparella reports.

Nathaniel McLellan’s father Kent spent a second full day on the stand at the manslaughter trial looking into the death of his young son.

During the cross-examination, defence lawyer Geoff Snow wasted little time suggesting that in the months after the toddler died, McLellan was trying to convince investigators to put out another news release stating he and his wife were not suspects in the case.

McLellan testified, “I wanted the public to know the parents have fully cooperated.”

He went on to say, “I would have liked them to let the public know that I wasn’t a suspect.” However, McLellan admitted that he knew officers wouldn’t have done that.

With no arrests in the case more than a year after the death, McLellan says he was approached by people in the community wondering what was going on.

“I wanted the public to know that this was an ongoing and active investigation,” he testified.

After dying from a head injury in the fall of 2015, it would take years for police to eventually charge Nathaniel’s babysitter Meggin Van Hoof. The 46-year-old operated a home daycare in Strathroy at the time and has pled not guilty.

The trial which started in September has had multiple delays with scheduling.

On Thursday, the court heard approximately 15 more days may be needed and that the proceedings could go into April, May or June.