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Cecil Patrick Kennedy: Alleged killer of toddler Jordan Thompson yelled to get help

A witness who was in the house when a man allegedly fatally poisoned his partner’s son withantidepressants has told a court of the moment the accused yelled to “get help” when the boy was dying.

Cecil Patrick Kennedy is facing an eight-week trial after pleading not guilty to manslaughter in relation to the death of Jordan Thompson in the Hunter Valley region 18 years ago.

The 50-year-old was arrested in September 2021 over the death of Jordan Thompson more than 16 years earlier on March 19, 2005.

The toddler was just 21 months old when his mother, Bernice Swales, left the house to run errands.

She had left the 21-month-old in the care of Mr Kennedy, who she had been dating for a number of months.

The witness, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, entered the witness box on Monday where he told the court he went into the bathroom where he saw the accused “pouring water” over Jordan in the bath.

The man told the court he was later playing video games when he heard “someone struggling” for air and the accused “panicking”.

“All I can remember is Jordan regurgitating on the bed … that stuck with me,” he told the court.

He told the court he watched the accused give Jordan CPR, and yelled at him to “get help”.

Ms Swales was gone for less than an hour, but when she returned the mother found Jordan unresponsive and naked on a bed.

Ms Swales attempted to resuscitate her son before gathering him in her arms and running to Singleton Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

The witness denied accusations from Crown prosecutor Kate Nightingale of “making up” his story “in an attempt to assist” the accused.

He told the court the accused told Ms Swales to get Jordan checked by a doctor because he was “always sick”.

“He was always crying, always sleeping, always dirty, sweating” the witness told the court.

“He was just sick, you can tell the difference between a sick baby and a healthy baby, he never looked good.”

Earlier in the trial, the jury was told by Ms Swales her son was “quiet” and “reserved” the night before he died and woke up upset the next morning.

Mr Kennedy had been “p***ed off and cranky” when he brought a crying Jordan to his mum on the morning of March 19, the court was told.

Police allege he gave the toddler “one or more tablets” of his prescription antidepressant medication on that day or the night before.

The 50-year-old is accused of being criminally responsible for fatally poisoning the toddler or by negligently leaving him in the bathtub unsupervised while he was drugged and unwell.

He told police he left the toddler alone in the bathtub for up to a minute and a half before he returned to find him face down in the water.

When Ms Swales returned home to find her son unconscious, the court was told her boyfriend told her the toddler had fallen in or out of the bath.

But Ms Swales choked back tears when she told the jury her son was dry and on the bed.

“He wasn’t doing anything. He wasn’t responsive at all,” she said.

Ms Swales cried as she described clutching Jordan to her body as she sprinted to the nearby hospital.

“I was screaming out ‘help help help’,” she said.

Mr Kennedy told police he hadn’t called triple 0 because didn’t have any money on his phone, but Ms Nightingale said an expert would testify he had more than $15 credit at the time.

The prosecutor said Mr Kennedy “lied about a number of things”, including the origin of the antidepressants.

“The accused was the only person close to Jordan who was prescribed that drug,” she said.

The crown prosecutor said traces of the antidepressant were found in the bathwater, in Jordan’s nappy, and in the vomit on his clothes.

Mr Kennedy lied when he told police Jordan could have picked a pill up from the floor and swallowed it, she told the jurors.

Defence barrister Linda McSpedden urged the jury to remain impartial in the face of a matter which can arouse “sympathy or antipathy”.

“The accused denied emphatically in his interviews that he ever provided the drug to the child Jordan,” she said.

“He denied he was criminally negligent in any way.”

The trial continues before Judge William Fitzsimmons SC.

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