A man charged with starving his partner’s nine-month-old baby to death has been released on bail.
Andrew William Campbell, 44, was accused of murder when he and his partner Natalie Jade Whitehead left baby Dexter Wilton to die from dehydration and malnutrition.
In June 2019, paramedics found the body of Dexter inside a house at Raceview in Ipswich, a city in South East Queensland.
The discovery was made after the Department of Child Safety received a number of calls in regard to Dexter’s well-being.
According to prosecutors, medical evidence suggested Dexter had been left alone without food and water for at least 21 hours before he died.
The Crown has alleged that the couple “forgot” about the baby as they were on a three-day drug binge before the baby died.
Campbell was arrested more than three years ago and was charged with murder, misconduct with a corpse by interfering, and three counts of failing to supply the necessities of life. But he is set to have the charge downgraded to one of manslaughter.
Meanwhile, Whitehead was charged about 18 months later with murder and interfering with a corpse over the baby’s death.
He and Whitehead had been in a relationship for at least four weeks at the time Dexter died, the court heard earlier.
They were no longer together when both were arrested.
Whitehead’s version of events is that she put the child down about 8.30 p.m. and did not check on him until 5 p.m the next day, earlier proceedings have heard.
The Crown did not oppose Campbell’s bail application in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday, saying the murder charge he is facing will be substituted for one of manslaughter.
There was a risk Campbell could spend too much time in custody as it was likely the case would only go to trial in 2025, Justice Catherine Muir said.
The 42-year-old is to live with his parents and consented to wearing an ankle GPS monitor.
Campbell’s matter is listed for mention in Ipswich Magistrates Court on July 21.
