$71K fine for death of Meeky

CHILDCARE provider Goodstart Early Learning has been fined $71,000 over the “deeply traumatic” death of a threeyear-old boy at its Edmonton centre in 2020.

The company entered pleas of guilty to one count of failing to adequately supervise children, failing to protect children from harm/hazard likely to cause injury and failing to take reasonable steps to ensure documentation is accurate.

The court heard Maliq “Meeky” Nicholas Floyd Namok-malamoo died after being left on a bus for several hours, and that neither centre director Michael Lewis nor before and after school co-ordinator Dionne Grills took any steps to sign him in or off the bus, in contravention of company policies.

It wasn’t until about 3.15pm that Mr Lewis, on another bus trip, opened the back door of the bus and discovered Meeky.

Mr Lewis pleaded guilty to manslaughter in February of this year and was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.

A fresh manslaughter charge has been brought against Ms Grills after she was previously cleared of wrongdoing.