Six-month-old Chayse Dearing suffered severe traumatic brain and spinal cord injuriesin June 2016
A Melbourne man who had ‘been awake for days’ on an ice bender has been found guilty of murdering his partner’s baby – after he threw him against a heater when he thought he saw a spider.
On Sunday Dwayne Lindsay, 34, was found guilty of murdering the six-month-old baby in June 2016, just days after he had proposed to the child’s mother.
Chayse suffered traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, marks on his neck, bruising and abrasions on his groin and retinal bleeding during the attack which ended his life.
Lindsey claimed he fell asleep with the child on his chest, then woke and jumped when he thought a spider was crawling on him.
He claimed the baby rolled off his chest and hit his head against a wall heater.
Lindsey (right) is on trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria for the murder of Michelle Dearing’s (left) baby. Lindsey denied he intended to kill the six-month-old boy, saying he fell asleep with the baby on his chest, then woke and jumped when he thought a spider was crawling on him
Prosecutor Nicholas Papas QC said Lindsey’s explanation was incongruent with medical reports, which showed Chayse’s death from a head injury was unlikely to have been accidental.
Ms Dearing and two of her friends had gone to Kmart after 4am.
At 8.21am, she received a call from Lindsey saying something was wrong with Chayse, that he wasn’t breathing and that he had blood coming from his nose.
Michelle Dearing had left her baby Chayse alone with her new boyfriend Dwayne Lindsey in June 2016. She told the court today that she and Lindsey were planning to get married
Melissa Jones told the court how she’d been at Kmart with Ms Dearing when Lindsey called them, saying ‘Chayse wasn’t breathing’.
‘I heard Michelle screaming my name and I knew something was wrong,’ she said.
Ms Jones said she called triple zero, and she returned home with Ms Dearing and another woman to find ‘medics working on Chayse’.
‘Michelle collapsed in the doorway of my bedroom. She was in shock basically.’
‘It was an emotional, chaotic scene when Ms Deary and the others got back,’ Mr Papas told the court.
‘She (Ms Deary) was overcome with emotion and collapsed.
‘Ms Deary noted Chayse had been changed from his blue Ralph Lauren onesie into a white fluffy onesie with bear ears on the hood,’ the prosecutor said.
It is also alleged Lindsey later told a witness he had, in fact, struck and kicked the baby.
Defence barrister Scott Johns said Lindsey did not intend to kill the child.
‘Whatever you think of Dwayne Lindsey, he’s not a murderer.
‘None of his actions came from an intention to cause any harm at all,’ Mr Johns said.
Lindsey’s trial continues and is expected to run for a week.