A Far North Queensland court has heard the former manager of a childcare centre, charged with manslaughter over the death of a toddler inside the centre's minibus, allegedly told a paramedic he "killed the child".
The body of three-year-old Malik Nicholas Floyd Namok-Malamoo was found on a Goodstart Early Learning centre bus at Edmonton, south of Cairns, in February last year.
Police allege he was left on the bus for about six hours before the alarm was raised.
Former centre director Michael Glenn Lewis, 45, and former staff member Dionne Batrice Grills, 34, have both been charged with manslaughter.
It is alleged Mr Lewis was driving the centre minibus when he and Ms Grills, a passenger, collected the boy from his home and brought him to the childcare centre.
They allegedly failed to take him off the bus, despite Malik being the only child on board at the time.
This week's committal hearing in Cairns Magistrate Court will determine if there is enough evidence for Ms Grills to go to trial.
Mr Lewis has been committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court at a date yet to be set.
On Tuesday, the court heard from Jeremy Neal, the first paramedic who arrived on the scene.
He claims he entered the bus, checked the child, and told Mr Lewis that the child was dead.
Ms Grills's defence barrister, Tony Kimmins, asked Mr Neal if it was true that Mr Lewis said to him immediately after he told him the boy was dead: "I can't believe I have done this, I thought I had done the head counts, I had been in meetings all day, I'll never see my kids."
"Yes, something along those lines," Mr Neal said.
On Monday, the court heard evidence from casual childcare centre worker Helen Bell, who said she was with Ms Grills when a child told them one of the children was found "asleep on the bus."
She said Ms Grills told her, "I hope he hasn't done what I think he's done", referring to Mr Lewis, as he had been driving the bus.
Referring to several witness statements, Mr Kimmins told the court his client, Ms Grills, was not responsible for the boy's death.
"He (Mr Lewis) kept repeating, 'I killed him, how have I done this to him'," Mr Kimmins said.
"Mr Lewis has obviously identified in the statements that he has made that he believed he was responsible, obviously assuming that there was a duty of care on him, in accordance with the fact that he was the bus driver."
The hearing continues on Wednesday.
