Man who poisoned child cheated on pregnant partner weeks before murder

Cecil Patrick Kennedy was allegedly cheating on his pregnant partner weeks before he allegedly poisoned her son.

By Edward Era Barbacena 

An alleged killer was cheating on his pregnant partner just weeks before he fatally poisoned her son with antidepressants, a court has been told.

Cecil Patrick Kennedy appeared in the NSW District Court on Monday to face an eight-week trial after pleading not guilty to manslaughter in relation to the young boy’s death.

The 50-year-old was arrested in September 2021 over the tragic death of Jordan Thompson in the Hunter Valley region more than six years earlier.

The toddler was only 21 months old when his mother, Bernice Swales, left the house to run errands on March 19, 2005.

When she returned less than an hour later, the court heard she found Jordan unresponsive and naked on a bed.

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

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

She told the jury the couple had seen each other “nearly every day” until February when she discovered Kennedy was romantically involved with another woman.

“I‘d recently discovered I’d fallen pregnant,” she told the jury.

A few weeks later, Swales stayed overnight at Kennedy’s apartment with Jordan, who was feeling unwell.

She told the jurors her son was “very quiet” and “reserved” on the night before he died and was still upset when he woke up the next morning.

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

However, the mother choked back tears as she told the jury her son was dry and he was lying on a dry bed.

“He wasn’t doing anything. He wasn’t responsive at all,” she said in a wavering voice.

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 as she described her terrifying flight.

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

Nightingale said 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 diaper, and in the vomit on his clothes.

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

Defense 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.”

Mr Kennedy maintained a blank face throughout the emotional testimony of his former girlfriend.

The trial will continue before Judge William Fitzsimmons SC on Tuesday.