Three
Sydney mothers had grave doubts about nanny Louise Sullivan, long before her conviction in
London's Old Bailey yesterday for the manslaughter of six-month-old Caroline Jongen.
So grave were their doubts, in fact, they sacked her.
North Shore mother Deborah Ayscough told Scotland Yard last year how she caught
Sullivan, from Fairlight in Sydney, violently shaking her child.
"When I found her shaking the baby one day it really frightened me and I told her
that was it - I didn't want to see her again," Ms Ayscough said.
She was among Sullivan's former employees interviewed by British and Sydney police
after Caroline Jongen died from brain damage on April 21 last year.
Early yesterday, Sydney time, 27-year-old Sullivan pleaded guilty to Caroline's
manslaughter.
But the prosecution accepted she did not intend to kill the baby, whom she described as
"the sweetest little girl I had ever looked after". Rather, she had panicked and
shook the baby because she thought Caroline was having a fit while feeding.
A statement issued in Sydney by Harry M. Miller and Co, on behalf of Sullivan's British
legal representatives, said: "In dealing with the fit/convulsion or the perceived
fit/convulsion of the infant child, Louise Sullivan adopted the 'Shake and Shout' method,
which she had been lectured on during her First Aid for Children course.
"By holding the baby the way she did and shaking the baby, Louise Sullivan accepts
that her actions were grossly negligent as a trained nanny and first-aider."
After baby Caroline's death, police spoke to Sydney mothers who employed Sullivan,
mainly around Manly.
Elisa Elwin also sacked Sullivan. She described the nanny as dazed and confused.
A third Australian mother, Elizabeth Afleck, dismissed Sullivan after finding her
bouncing her baby instead of rocking the child to sleep. A family in England also sacked
her for being "dopey" and incompetent.
Caroline was the only child of Dutch-born Marcel Jongen, 42, a financial fund manager
in London, and his French wife Muriel, 39, a financial analyst. Sullivan arrived in
Britain in April 1997 and met the Jongens through the Kidz Unlimited agency.
She moved into their home at Cricklewood, north London, in January last year when
Caroline was three months old. Sullivan was paid £140 ($370) a week net. Mrs Jongen was
at home for the first two weeks until she felt "sufficiently confident" to
return to work.
Yesterday, Sullivan was accompanied to court by her father and brother. She spoke only
once during the hearing, replying when charged with manslaughter: "Guilty to
manslaughter on the basis of involuntary manslaughter."
In her statement to police, she had admitted to panicking at the baby's fit and said:
"I may have sort of shook her a little bit, and cried out 'Caroline, Caroline'."
Prosecuting counsel Nigel Sweeney, QC, said Sullivan shook Caroline "with severe
force" for five to 10 seconds.
When the child went "really floppy", Sullivan called a neighbour who had the
baby rushed to hospital. An autopsy showed the baby's brain was "effectively bursting
out of her head".
The prosecution accepted Sullivan's manslaughter plea rather than push for a trial for
murder. Outside the court, Detective Inspector Phil Wheeler accepted Sullivan had been a
"loving nanny".
But remanding Sullivan on bail until February 1 for pre-sentence reports, Justice
Stephen Mitchell warned her his decision to grant bail was no indication he would impose a
lenient sentence.
"Don't mislead yourself about that," he said.
The court had heard that NSW's Detective Senior Constable Matt Kehoe had interviewed a
dozen mothers who had employed Sullivan, and most had been positive.
This was also the experience of Marnie Lonsdale, who employed Sullivan for about three
months in 1993 after meeting her at Balgowlah. Ms Lonsdale felt compassion for Sullivan
yesterday.
"When I found out, I felt sick," she told the Herald.
Britain's tabloids were not so compassionate. "Rage of killer nanny," cried The
Sun. "Killer nanny shook two more babies," said The Mirror. The
broadsheets referred to Sullivan's low IQ of 81, and a thyroid deficiency requiring
medication, and asked if anything could have been done to save the baby in her care.