Recordings of a mum’s panicked calls to emergency services begging they save her two-year-old boy have been played to a jury, with three words directed at the man accused of killing her son.
In the Supreme Court of Victoria this week, recordings of Stacie Saggers’ three ‘hysterical’ calls with triple-0 operators were played as she sat sobbing in the witness box.
Ms Saggers, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, gave evidence over five days at the murder trial of her ex-boyfriend Brendan Pallant, who is accused of causing the death of her two-year-old son Jaidyn Gomes-Sebastiao.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Facing questions about her love life, financial problems and drug addiction, Ms Saggers kept her composure but broke down crying while listening back to the worst day of her life.
Her words were mostly incomprehensible, but Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson KC returned to a five-second snippet, asking her what she thinks she said.
‘You f–king pig is what I said,’ she told the court.
recordings of Stacie Saggers’ (pictured) three ‘hysterical’ calls with triple-0 operators were played as she sat sobbing in the witness box
When questioned who she was referring to, Ms Saggers responded with ‘Brendan’.
Prosecutors allege Mr Pallant struck Jaidyn with a lamp during a ‘short but profound’ period of frustration on September 2, 2019.
Ms Saggers had left Jaidyn in the care of Mr Pallant as she went to work a cleaning job for three hours, putting Jaidyn down for a nap before she left about 12.30pm.
In court, she described her son as a ‘mummy’s boy’ who was clingy and would scream the door down when she had to leave.
She said Mr Pallant had been a ‘gentleman’ and did a good job looking after Jaidyn when she had to work.
‘He was fine, there were no signs,’ she said.
‘It’s not like he’d yell at them or hit them.
But his behaviour towards her allegedly changed a week before Jaidyn’s death and she began to feel scared of him, she said.
The jury was told Mr Pallant had come into Ms Saggers’ life about a month earlier after the pair met at the home of a mutual friend.
He moved into her Langwarren home a few days later and they began dating.
Ms Saggers told the court that she’d moved her young family back to Victoria about eight months earlier after losing her partner, Chris Gomes-Sebastiao, in a motorcycle accident.
She had been living with Mr Gomes-Sebastiao, a furniture removalist, in Queensland since 2015 but made the difficult decision to give up a thriving cleaning business and return to Melbourne where she had family support.
She told the court her mental health had deteriorated following Mr Gomes-Sebastiao’s death, and her ice habit began to escalate over the following months.
Ms Saggers’ ex-boyfriend Brendan Pallant (pictured) is accused of killing her two-year-old son Jaidyn Gomes-Sebastiao
Jaidyn Gomes-Sebastiao (pictured) Lawyers acting for Mr Pallant say whether he inflicted the injury will be the central issue in the case. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Curriedied from head injuries in September 2019
By the time she met Mr Pallant, she told the court, she was using daily and spending the majority of her income on the drug.
She agreed with a suggestion by Mr Pallant’s barrister that the pair met and began a relationship ‘over a pipe’.
In a text message from mid-August shown to the jury, Ms Saggers tells Mr Pallant she had ‘never fallen for someone so quickly before’.
She agreed her drug use had affected her ability to parent and said ‘sometimes’ her priority would be getting her next hit.
But she said she always ensured the house was clean and tidy with food in the cupboards.
The jury was told that by August 2019, Ms Saggers had been banned from a childcare facility for overdue payments and failing to be at pick-up on time, leading her to rely on Mr Pallant when she needed to work.
In the week leading up to Jaidyn’s death, Ms Saggers said she had grown suspicious of Mr Pallant after two incidents on August 29 and September 1.
Both incidents, which left bruises on Jaidyn’s face, had been explained as the young boy pulling shelves down on himself while alone in his room.
‘The book case was on the floor and Jaidyn was on the bed, bum in the air and sucking his thumb,’ Ms Saggers said of finding him the second time.
‘I wasn’t sure if it was an accident or not.’
Ms Saggers (pictured) said she grew suspicious of Mr Pallant after two incidents on August 29 and September 1. Both incidents left bruises on Jaidyn’s face
Ms Saggers left home shortly after noon on September 2 to go to a cleaning job because she was being pressured by a drug dealer to repay a debt.
She told the court she felt hesitant to leave Jaidyn in Mr Pallant’s care and took photos of Jaidyn’s injuries.
‘If something was happening to Jaidyn, there was my proof to show police,’ she said when questioned why she took the photos.
‘If I came home and discovered more bruises, I had the evidence to get Brendan charged.’
A photo shown to the jury depicted the toddler with bruising across his face and his right eye swollen shut. Ms Saggers said, despite the injuries, he was his ‘happy little self’.
She told the court she felt concerned for Jaidyn’s safety after calling and texting Mr Pallant for updates only to be told he was still sleeping.
She said she left the job early and made her way home around 3pm.
Ms Saggers said when she got home she didn’t check on Jaidyn as she would usually do, saying Mr Pallant allegedly made excuses as to why she should leave him alone.
‘He said Jaidyn was still in bed asleep and to not disturb him,’ she told the jury.
‘There was always an excuse why I couldn’t go down that part of the house.’
Shortly after 4pm, she said Mr Pallant went into Jaidyn’s bedroom and began to panic after hearing him yell out ‘what the f–k’.
‘That’s when I grew extremely concerned, I ran over … he was bending down to pick Jaidyn up, and he came out of the room with his back towards me and wouldn’t let me see my son.
‘He placed him behind the couch and yelled ‘call f–king triple-0′. That’s all I remember.’
The court was told paramedics and police rushed to the home, but the child could not be saved and was declared dead at the scene.
Lawyers acting for Mr Pallant say whether he inflicted the injury will be the central issue in the case
Mr Pallant and Ms Saggers were arrested at the scene. The court was told she faced two days of questioning over her son’s death before she was released without charge.
In his opening address to the jury, Mr Nathwani said questions would be raised over whether Mr Pallant was the last person to see the child alive.
He said the jury would have to decide if Mr Pallant inflicted the fatal injuries, adding Ms Saggers had been ‘inconsistent’ with what she told people about Jaidyn’s bruises.
The trial, before Justice Jane Dixon, continues.
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