More true stories Along came a spider?
A jury must decide if he was a loving stepdad…or a killer
Michelle Dearing wasn’t looking for love. A single mum to her son Chayse, then 3 months, the baby was her priority. But, in March 2016, she met Dwayne Lindsey, 32. Lindsey was great with Chayse – and the little boy seemed taken with him, too.
After a whirlwind romance, Michelle thought that she’d found the man with whom she wanted to spend the rest of her life.
So, when he popped the question in June 2016, Michelle said yes.
Then, just a few days after getting engaged, Michelle left Lindsey to babysit.
The couple were staying at her apartment in Melbourne, Australia, and were up early, as Chayse wanted a feed.
Michelle needed to go to the local 24-hour supermarket.
So, at 4am, she left her baby with Lindsey and set off to the shop with a friend.
Just a few hours later, while she was still out shopping, Michelle received a call from Lindsey. ‘There’s something wrong with the baby. Come home!’ he said. He explained that Chayse wasn’t breathing – and that there was blood coming from the baby’s nose. Frantically, Michelle screamed to her friend, who phoned the emergency services straightaway. Hysterical, they raced home to find medics working on Chayse. Lindsey claimed he’d fallen asleep with the baby on his chest. But he said that he’d woken up, and jumped when he mistook Chayse for a spider. He claimed Chayse rolled off his chest and hit his head against a wall heater. Chayse was rushed to hospital, where he spent the next two days. But there was nothing doctors could do to save the tot. The little boy died, aged just 6 months. Very quickly, the finger of blame was pointed at Dwayne Lindsey. Detectives didn’t think the child’s injuries were consistent with Lindsey’s story. The tot had suffered severe, traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. There were marks on his neck, bruising and abrasions on his groin and retinal bleeding. Lindsey was arrested. He maintained his innocence, claiming he’d never deliberately hurt Chayse. In February this year, Dwayne Lindsey appeared at the Supreme Court of Victoria, charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty. But the court heard he’d been high on crystal methamphetamine – nicknamed ‘ice’ – when Chayse died. And it was believed he’d been
on an ice binge in the days before, hadn’t slept for four days.
The prosecutors argued that Lindsey had been angry with Michelle for leaving him with the baby, while she went out with a friend.
And he’d vented his frustrations on Chayse.
They argued that his story about the spider wasn’t believable.
For a start, Chayse’s injuries were far too severe to have been caused by a fall.
And mistaking a baby for a spider? Well, that just seemed ridiculous.
Unless Lindsey was so high on drugs he’d hallucinated…
‘He’s lying. This wasn’t accidental... He’s inflicted injuries that have caused the death, with the intent to cause really serious harm or death,’ the prosecutor argued.
A neighbour testified he’d heard people arguing all night, keeping him awake for hours.
Then, at 8am, he’d heard Lindsey trying to wake the tot.
‘He didn’t know about babies because of the way he tried to wake it up. He just goes “Hey you, hey you, hey you” all the time,’ the witness said.
He then heard Lindsey let out a ‘long dingo howl’ when he realised there was something seriously wrong. Was it a cry from a man who was hysterical with worry for a boy he loved? Michelle’s friend told the court she’d taught Lindsey techniques to help settle babies, adding that Lindsey had ‘so much patience’ for someone who wasn’t his biological son. And she claimed Chayse adored Lindsey. ‘He’d light up when Dwayne would go to play. He leapt into his arms,’ she said. After Lindsey’s arrest, Michelle had told police she trusted her fiance with her son. She said he often gave him a bottle, bathed him and changed his nappy. And she argued that Lindsey hadn’t seemed angry or tired when she left the flat that morning. She said Chayse seemed content, too, wearing a blue onepiece jumpsuit – though, on her return, she noticed he was wearing a fluffy, white jumpsuit. Was this because Lindsey wanted to disguise Chayse’s injuries or had he simply put Chayse in a clean suit after a feed or nappy change? Michelle also recalled that Lindsey seemed panicstricken, constantly asking if the baby would be OK. ‘He said, “What am I going to do? They’re going to go crook at me because I was the only one here. No-one else was here,”’ she said. Lindsey’s defence lawyers maintained that Chayse’s injuries were accidental. They claimed it was possible Chayse fell off Lindsey’s chest when he thought a spider was crawling on him.
Or that he accidentally shook the baby in panic while trying to get him to regain consciousness.
‘Whatever you think of Dwayne Lindsey, he’s not a murderer,’ his lawyer said. ‘None of his actions came from an intention to cause any harm at all.’
So what was the truth?
Was Lindsey a junkie who, while high on drugs, sleep deprived and angry, took out his anger on an innocent tot?
Or did he genuinely love the boy and not mean to hurt him?
Now it was time for the jury to decide…
‘Whatever you think, he’s not a murderer’ LINDSEY: He was high on drugs