The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has forced Queensland Coroners Court to adjourn an inquest into the death of toddler Mason Jet Lee.

March 18, 2020

An inquest exploring the death of toddler Mason Jet Lee has moved behind closed doors amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Witnesses and lawyers will now provide written submissions about the 21-month-old’s death after the Queensland Coroners Court adjourned the proceedings.

“Due to concerns about COVID-19 and in order to limit the transmission to legal parties, witnesses and members in the public gallery it was decided that no further oral evidence be heard in open court,” magistrate Jane Bentley said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mason was struck in the abdomen by his mother’s boyfriend, William O’Sullivan, in June 2016, while they were living in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, and died from sepsis.

The inquest has heard that crucial information about the Lee family was withheld from a Mission Australia social worker tasked with providing early intervention support.

The social worker, who cannot be named for legal reasons, began working with Mason’s mother, Anne-Maree Lee, when the family was homeless in September 2015.

She had been known to child safety officers since 2005 following numerous domestic violence incidents involving drugs.

By November 2015, the child safety department’s concerns about Ms Lee had increased to include her ongoing mental health issues and alcohol abuse.

She was also allegedly selling drugs from the home she shared with her children and police had been called following a domestic violence complaint against O’Sullivan.

But the social worker says she was never advised about the department’s concerns despite being contracted to provide support services to the family.

The silence continued when Mason was hospitalised with injuries his veteran doctor described as the worst he had seen in his 45-year career.

It was only after pediatricians raised their concerns and Mason’s case was escalated to a Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect team in March 2016 that the social worker was alerted to the Lee family’s situation.

She said doctors at the meeting advocated for Mason to be removed from his mother and O’Sullivan’s care.

Despite this, Mason was released from hospital into their care after child safety officers agreed to begin an intervention process.

However, his case was not allocated to a child safety officer before he died three months later on June 11.

The coroners’ court will deliver its findings at a date yet to be fixed.