Mother of infant who died testifies that she was scared about being a person of interest in the case

The mother of the toddler who died said she was scared when investigators considered her a person of interest. CTV’s Nick Paparella explains.

Throughout her six days on the stand testifying, Rose-Anne Van De Wiele has broken down several times when thinking about the final days of her little boy’s life.

Nathaniel McLellan was only 15 months old when he died in October of 2015 from a head injury after being picked up from the babysitter’s house in Strathroy.

Van De Wiele said initially, officers looking into the death considered her to be a person of interest, “I was just scared of everything in my life ... I was in heavy grief, no one even knew or understood, so I was scared.”

“I knew that he wasn’t injured with me, so I still believed that it could have been an accident at the daycare provider’s house,” she added.

But after meeting with doctors as her child lay dying in a hospital bed, she said, “They told me that this was a significant injury and whoever was with him would have known and the damage was done immediately. I still didn’t believe that someone would hurt him, and I knew I hadn’t.”

Van De Wiele told the court she doesn’t recall a lot of what she told police 10 years ago because as an expectant mother at the time, she broke down in court and explained, “I was hardly surviving, I was worried about my unborn child and I didn’t think that I would make it.”

She continued, “I loved my son with all my heart, and I was so scared, that’s what I was feeling.”

Six years later in 2021, provincial police charged the babysitter, 46-year-old Meggin Van Hoof.

She had operated an unlicensed daycare from her home in Strathroy.

Charged with one count of manslaughter, Van Hoof has pleaded not guilty.

Later, during the cross-examination, Van De Wiele told the court that as the years passed with no arrests in the case, she emailed police several times about the status of the investigation and about Van Hoff, “Because I dropped off a healthy baby ... he (Nathaniel) had been in her care.”

Van De Wiele’s testimony resumes on Friday.