Fed: Man to be extradited over toddler death

AAP General News (Australia)
12-19-2000
Fed: Man to be extradited over toddler death

CANBERRA, Dec 19 AAP - A man will be extradited from Canberra to Sydney to face a manslaughter
charge over the death of a two-year-old toddler at Cabramatta in south-western Sydney
earlier this month.

Leslie William Cooper, 26, appeared briefly for extradition proceedings and to face
unrelated ACT charges of handling stolen property and failing to appear after a bail undertaking.

He will be extradited to Sydney to appear in Central Local Court tomorrow.

Leo Nguyen died of organ failure from extreme heat on December 4 when he was left strapped
in the back seat of a stolen black BMW abandoned outside a Cabramatta shop.

His mother Lan had parked her car about 50 metres away from the shop a short time before
the theft.

She had run into a supermarket, leaving the keys in the car's ignition and the engine running.

Leo suffered cardiac arrest after the car was abandoned several blocks away and the
temperature inside the vehicle reached an estimated 65 degrees celsius.

Police said Cooper was arrested yesterday afternoon in Tuggeranong, in southern Canberra.

The arrest was the result of a joint operation involving the Australian Federal Police,
detectives from the New South Wales Police Service's crime agencies and Cabramatta police.

AAP eg/daw/mg/sp

KEYWORD: CAR EXTRADITE

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