Update: Denise Reynolds and Toni Melville
It was a Thursday morning in July 2008 when a Darwin Child Protection worker had just written up a report of a disturbing visit the previous day to the home of foster carer Denise Reynolds, 42 and her older sister Toni Melville, 43.
The report documented the distress of 12 year old Deborah Melville, who had been laying weeping on the kitchen floor of the home she lived in, later staggering down the hallway to the bathroom, unsteady on her feet and gripping the walls for support.
As the report landed on the desks of the bureaucrats in the Northern Territory’s Department of Family and Children’s Services on July 12 2008, Deborah was being dragged into the backyard where she was left to die in the dirt.
Reynolds and Melville were acquitted of Deborah’s manslaughter on August 15 2008.
A jury accepted, after six hours of deliberations, that despite failing to take Deborah to a doctor after she first complained of a sore leg, the pair had no reasonable way of knowing that the girl had developed a bone infection so severe that she would die.
Delivering his closing statements in the N.T Supreme Court in Darwin, Crown Prosecutor Richard Coates said he could not explain the womens lack of action. ‘Maybe they were preoccupied with other issues, or selfish or stupid or stubborn.’ he said.
Deborah’s death sparked a damning audit of FACS, details of which have not been made public.
On a more personal note, most of you will recall Lyn McConville, Deborah’s birth mother, posting on PYSIH about how angry she was over her daughters death. You would also know that Lyn is very well known to my family. I recently spoke to people that know Lyn quite well and got a few tidbits of interesting information. I cant tell you if what they say is 100% true or not. But i will relay what i was told and let you make your own minds up.
This is the conversation i had.
Source: ’Six months before Deborah died, she rang Lyn and crying, begged her to come and get her from the foster home she was in. Lyn responded by telling her that Deborah was not welcome to contact her. She had moved on from the past and wanted nothing more to do with Deborah and the her other children in foster care.’
Amy: ‘What? She didn’t want them back?’
Source: ‘No. Not ever. It was not until Deborah’s death that she decided to get in on the action.’
I can also tell you for sure that Lyn is pregnant again, with the child being due on the anniversary of Deborah’s death. Her two remaining children are no longer with her. The daughter was given to family members to care for, and her three year old son was delivered to my mothers door, with an apple and three nappies. Lynn claimed she could no longer take care of him as she was ‘in a bad way.’
His father now has full care of the child and they are both adjusting to the situation positively.
37 Comments »
“the pair had no reasonable way of knowing that the girl had developed a bone infection so severe that she would die.”
BULLSHIT!
Well, considering she had shit herself and could not even walk to the bathrom to clean herself up because of the pain, id have to agree with you there Turtle. And if that didnt help them click onto the fact that she was ill, then the profuse sweating and delerium should have.
a tramp off the street (with no education)would have known she was dying… even lindsays personal human toilet could have worked it out- these 2 bitches deserve the Death Penalty, and then they should go to own special hellcell.
Unfortunately, the death penalty has not been around in Ausralia for a long time. I think the last person hanged was in Fremantle prison, and that was way before my time.
I think the girls mother, the foste carers, who were also relatives ( Aunts i think) and CPS should all roast for this.
i thought this was in the US… i must have misread it- well writen though Amy!
To think, I was cnofused a minute ago.
Yeah that is bullshit
Great update, Amy:-) I’m mad as hell after reading that! They had no way of knowing she would die? BULL-FUCKING-SHIT! She couldn’t even get up to use the bathroom, and they dragged her out of the house and in the BACKYARD! Did they forget about that? If that conversation is true, it annoys me to no end that Lyn was here trying to garner sympathy when she dismissed her daughter like she was an old boyfriend. How do you tell your sobbing 12-year-old you won’t be her mother cause you “moved on from your past”? That is your child! WTF! SERIOUSLY! Come on back, Lyn, and try to justify that!
I am also fairly sure that there is another court case coming up in April that is to do with Deborahs death. I know there has been an ongoing enquiry about it all.
I never met Deborah, but i know her youngest brother and sister very well. When Lyn split from her youngests father, i flew her from Adelaide to Perth and brought her and the kids to live wih me for a while to get back on their feet.
It was a shambles. She was drunk all the time, and i will never forget the night of my sons 10th birthday when she got so drunk that she passed out on the kitchen floor and her daughter sat beside her crying because she thought mummy was dead. It was disgusting, and shortly after i told her she had to leave.My son was so upset that she ruined his birthday, and i dont blame him. I took her and the kids to stay at the refuge and we organised for her to get emergency housing and she got a government house in the next town up from me within days.
She was only there one day when her daughter almost burned the house down. She had been unsupervised and playing with matches in the bedroom. My hubby is a volunteer fire fighter, and when he got paged and read out the address to me i almost had a heart attack.
When Deborah died, we helped her pack up and move back to Darwin to be closer to my mum, who has always helped Lyn out in times of trouble. After he way she passed off her youngest two children, even mum has had enough of her antics. She loves those kids like her own grandchildren and is so hurt that Lyn could just give them away without a second thought. The kids are better off without her.
She’s a good candidate for a court-ordered sterilization.
She shouldn’t be allowed to pop them out leaving caution to the wind.
My gosh this story always kills me. That Denise and Toni got off without so much as a slap on the wrist is sickening… That Lyn is pregnant again and looking for sympathy for Deborah’s death may be even more sickening. Amy, please keep us updated, it’s good to know what is going on and that little Deborah won’t be forgotten. Surely there are some other charges these skanks can be brought up on.
So the kid just dies and that’s it. End of story.
Well, holding someone responsible would be like, crazy, right?
Grrr….
I don’t understand why the child protective agency didn’t remove Deborah from the home when the worker saw Deborah was obviously in great medical distress. I don’t know what the laws are like where Deborah lived, but a child welfare agency is supposed to remove a child IMMEDIATELY from a home where there is evidence of extreme neglect or abuse. If the worker had done her job, and if the child had been taken to the hospital, she might still be alive. Everyone involved in this situation deserves hell.
Hi guys and gals. My first post here, be gentle lol.
Those poor ladies must be so distraught about Deborah. You can see the angst on their faces. They must be feeling terribly about the whole thing. We should get together and hold a candlelight vigil in their honor – NOT!! Pieces of crap.
It doesn’t make sense, does it? An acquittal for blatantly murdering a child? The justice systems all over the world should be entirely thrown out and rewritten. It’s as if the are trying to make everyone free from any accountability at all no matter how terrible or cold-blooded their actions may be. However, for me the problem is much worse when a child is involved in something like this. A child has no power to do anything worthy of torture or death. It’s unfortunate that adults sometimes do (like these two butt-hunches). I wish I could wrap my brain around this: Why are our justice systems looking for every way imaginable to give the guilty a way to be “innocent” of the crimes they commit? Don’t get me wrong on this. I know that some people have had some crappy lives and that it may affect them to some degree in their later years. Should we really use that as an excuse to let people go out and murder, rape and kill others without punishment since they had such a “rough life”? Do they somehow deserve to take out their frustrations on the rest of society without penalty? I think there are several on here who had been through some bad things and I ask that question sincerely, as I myself, to be honest, I’ve had it pretty good most of my life. I think people are still smart enough to make decisions regardless of their past. I’d like to hear your opinions if I may.
Anyway, I digress. These two toss-pots make me sick, and even they can’t be stupid enough to know that poor girl wasn’t in extreme agony. Until we start actually treating criminals like criminals, no one will take the justice system seriously and we’ll just see more of this.
Welcome!
Sorry I meant they weren’t stupid enough to not know she was in agony, all though I’m sure you guys and gals know what I meant. I’m “confruzing” myself lol.
The legal systems are devoid of common sense and are more interested in precidents and technicalities than in human life – never mind justice.
This proves that such is not something unique to the US.
If I become president of the USA, I have a plan for WWIII that involves minumal fighting with maxumum damage to the enemy.
I will take 1/2 of the lawyers and 3/4 of our politicians and send them into our enemy’s lands to live. By doing so I will destroy our enemy’s society while cleaning up ours with minumal use of force.
Yes, and let’s add negligent child protection agency workers to the list of those drafted.
The laws tht are supposed to protect children here in Australia can be summed up with one word: CRAP.
When Lyn left her youngest son with my mum, the first thing my mum did was to ring FACS and lt them know that the child was with her. In the three months he was there they never once got back to her.
I even called them from here in Western Australia and tried to get something done,but it was a waste of a phone call.
Im glad that the child is now wth his dad because he will finally have some stability in his life. His older sister is another story. No one seems to know who Lyn gave her to.
The jury….hmmmm. They deliberated for 6 hours and this was the outcome.
I just watched a movie about the jury/jurors being bought and bargained with. It’s the one with John Cusack.
I couldn’t help thinking why in the world couldn’t the jury come up with a verdict in favor of the vulnerable minor.
It is soooo lame and no pun intended here, that the jury could separate the fact that there was no way for the adults to know about the bone infection. What the hell??? How about the rest of her condition??? How about the treatment of leaving her in the backyard like a sack of meat????? Did they not have pictures of the child to see???
The jury failed. The ordinary citizens failed to render justice in this case.
They had some expert on Aborigional culture testify that ABorigional peole dont complain about being in pain or being ill until its usually too late. And that is a pile of horse shit.
One of my husbands work mates is an Aborigional fella, and while he is an all round great bloke, if he even breaks a nail he wants workers comp cause the pain is unbearable, lol.
The whole trial was a farce. She is never going to have justice served. She has been treated in death, exactly the way she was treated in life. Like crap.
My daughter had a bone infection recently. There is NO WAY they wouldn’t have known. Within 1 day my child was feverish, vomiting, and lost the ability to walk. We rushed her to the hospital where they found the infection and performed surgery within the hour. These people are scum. It makes me want to be a foster parent to show a child what parental love and guidance really is!
Hello angry momma, and thankyou for sharing your experience. Now all those people who wonder, ‘maybe they didnt know…’ will now understand that there is no way they could have not known.
I hope your daughter is now on the mend.
THERE IS SO MUCH WRONG WITH THIS SITUATION I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN. WHAT KIND OF ASSHOLES COULD DO THAT TO A CHILD. THEY DESERVE MORE THAN HELL. WHAT EMPTY HEARTLESS SLUT OF A MOTHER COULD LEAVE HER CHILD IN THAT SITUATION. MABEY SHE WILL DRINK HERSELF TO DEATH AND RID THE WORLD OF HER PITTIFUL SELF. CPS TOLD HER TO TAKE A SHOWER THAT AGENT SHOULD BE FORCED TO TAKE A SCULDING HOT SHOWER UNTIL EVERY PART OF THEIR BODY IS BURNED SO THEY WILL ALWAYS THINK OF WHAT THEY COULD HAVE DONE BUT DID NOT. AND ANY JURY OR JUDGE THAT WOULD FIND THOSE TWO FAT UGLY BITCHES HAD NO WAY OF KNOWING THAT GIRL WAS AT THE INJURED AND NOT HOLD THEM RESPONSIBLE FOR HER DEATH ARE IGNORANT AND A WASTE OF SPACE AS WELL!
lyn is such a total bitch. the “bad way” that her dumb ass always seems to be in is pregnant.
very bad for her offspring.
Thank you for telling this properly Amy. I dated Lyn and was fooled into thinking her a victim of life and circumstance. She is an expert liar and has an excuse or someone else to blame for anything you throw at her. I raised one of her girls from nappies to 4 years and will always think of her as my daughter, but I have no rights or say because of my skin color. Now I worry every day about her and wonder if she is hurt somewhere needing me. Nobody knows who she Lyn gave her to and nobody seems interested in finding her.
People of PYSIH, Moose is very dear to me…I know him very well and can say with all honesty that he is a big hearted man who loved Lyns children dearly. But sadly in this day, love doesnt seem to be enough. If i knew where she was and could offer the home life she needs i would foster her in an instant, and i know you would do the same. But unfortunately, there seems to be no trace of her. One again CPS and Lyn have let down a beautiful child.
This whole situation is so frustrating and infuriating for someone watching from a distance, I can’t even imagine what it must be like for you two ladies who obviously care for the children so much. Amy is my friend, and I know that if she says something she means it, so my heart breaks along with hers when I read her posts about this “mother’s” kids. Moose, I can see that you’re the same kind of person as Amy. If you don’t find comfort in the compassion we feel for Lyn’s kids, I hope you at least get some satisfaction from a collection of people that hate Lyn and her fat pig sister as much as you probably do and take the greatest pleasure is belittling, insulting, degrading, and otherwise kicking them in their imaginary asses.
I took Lyn and to of hr kids into my home for a while and her kids are beautiful. I have some great photos that i took of her kids that i look at often. There is a fav of her daughter and my oldest girl and youngest son together. Its such a great photo and it saddens me that the child will never have the life she deserves.
Oh, and Moose is a straight fella, tho im sure he can play ‘ladylike’ when he chooses, hey Moosta, lol.
Why is that CPS doesn’t care when a child is given away with no one knowing where they are? I have a niece that her mother did the same thing. She gave a two week old baby to some random stranger in a parking lot and CPS told my husband and I that this situation was none of our business and we had no right to inquire about the child’s welfare. They actually told us that it was legal for a mother to give her child away as long as she didn’t receive money for the child. This is how our system is supposed to protect our children. It is sickening.
How could these women not know the girl was in pain? How difficult is it to bring her to the doctor? They just did not give a shit. As for Lyn, she is a lousy piece of shit who deserves some nasty things in life. And she definitely should be forced to have a hysterectomy.
I have just been reading through all these posts as there was a feature article about Deborah in the Daily Telegraph. The article said that the surviving children of Lyn had been placed with a non-Indigenous carer and were doing well, but I guess that’s not necessarily the case. It is shocking to read about the mother refusing to help Deborah in a phone call as well.
Surely there is some sort of punishment for child neglect? You don’t just leave your child at someone’s door. Lyn should be in jail, along with the aunties. It was so sad to read that Deborah could have survived even towards the end had she been given some proper medical treatment. Those women should be in jail for the protection of the other children.
I was in that situation once, my mother sent me to live with my stepfather after they broke up and he had a new wife. I loved his new wife Doris, one day her son tried to beat me to the bathroom door and I made it first, he pushed on the door, I ended up falling and dislocated my knee, I pushed the bone bck in it hurt and was swollen, they all said I was faking for attention, my knee was swollen 4x its size but I was faking you know… her son came home and said he saw me walking at school normally but when I saw him I started limping again. anyways that was bs, anyway Im an unhappy little girl of 12, I find comfort the only way I know how, to have someoone to love, when I get home from being with my boyfreind ( a somoan boy) my stepfather beats the shit out of me. I used to sleep in the closet. He came in there andcalled me so many names, told me my boyfreind who i loved was a N*******r, he then graBBED me and out hus hand over my mouth, he was suffocating me, I couldnt breathe, he raped me up the ass, and said thats what you get for being with N****s… the next day, Doris told me go go see Marcus, he has been calling for you. I went to meet him at the post office like I always did, when i got back, the police were there, they took me on a plane back to California, I never saw Marcus again, I went to juvenile hall for and a girls home for a few years, he wrote to me but my head was so fucked up, I wrote back but every letter was accusing, I ended up going to a foster home after that, i ran away from it of course, I slept on people doorsteps, I WAS hungry and cold, I had one boy Anthony who comforted me, I ended up living, even though he went through much worse than i did, we met every night, he woulld cover me with his blanket and just hold me, he never tried to have sex with me, he was all sexed out, because of him I survived, I grew up, now i am here years later and i wonder what ever happened to him….
He fed me, he sold his ass every day to get money to get food for us, when people think of abusing their children, this is what you make us, when we are young, when we get older we cant ever have a normal relationship, but you dont have normal relationships eithe do ya?
Anyone know where Denise Reynolds currently is? I would be grateful if someone could tell me. She has been in hiding for a while and she still has some music to face….
Toni Melville is dead, so I am told
Im a mate of lynns and i have never seen any of this behaviour that you speak of amy and i find what you have written to be bitter and offensive..if thats the way you treat your friends i feel sorry for your enemies..lynn is a great person and a great friend..she has suffered terrible things in her life and dealt with it the best she could at the time.I can tell you now that if i just found out my daughter had been murdered i would also be passed out drunk on the kitchen floor!!!!!!!also as for this rubbish that deb called her mother 6 months before she died to ask for help….what a load of shit…that never happened…please people have some respect for the dead…do you think deb would want people bashing her mother on the internet????or her other children that are alive need to read this crap????and amy for someone who says you love lynns kids why would you hurt them by putting this stuff on the internet???