Coroner to Refer Birthkeeper Emily Lal for Perjury Over $6,000 Fee and Phone Evidence

Warnecke paid Lal $6,000 for support during her pregnancy, a sum that now anchors a potential perjury referral. The fee contradicts Lal's June testimony that the arrangement was informal and based on friendship. Counsel assisting the coroner, Rachel Ellyard, argued that the payment and communications indicate a structured professional service rather than casual support. The Victorian coroner has heard that Lal, a birthkeeper with no clinical training, may be referred to the Office of Public Prosecutions.

Stacey Warnecke, a 30-year-old nutritionist, died in September 2025 at Frankston hospital. She delivered at home and suffered a postpartum haemorrhage, losing up to 1.5 litres of blood. Lal was present at the home birth. The inquest into the death began in June 2026. Closing submissions were delayed while forensic teams analyzed Warnecke's phone. Hearings resumed on Monday, 26 October 2026.

The phone analysis uncovered a WhatsApp group chat coordinated by Lal for women choosing freebirth. It also revealed a direct phone call between Lal and Warnecke. In the recording, Warnecke expressed fear of hospitals. Lal replied, "You should be scared of the hospital." She described the hospital as "a terrifying place." Lal also advised that midwives at home births might push women to the hospital simply because the midwife was exhausted. Ellyard stated this material directly contradicted Lal's earlier account that she only shared personal experiences and gave no medical advice.

Lal previously told the court she saw her role as grooming clients to resist medical help during labor. She said she would not call an ambulance unless asked, even if a client was unconscious. Ellyard rejected this characterization. "She was providing advice. She was providing referrals. She was selling supplements," Ellyard said. She described the arrangement as "much more structured, much more deliberate" than a friend helping with basic care. Ellyard added that Warnecke's husband, Nathan, was "reassured or indoctrinated" into a passive support role.

Lal was invited to return to the stand after the phone analysis but declined. She had initially testified under a certificate of protection, which prevents her evidence from being used against her in future proceedings. Ellyard told coroner Therese McCarthy that the court could find Lal was not truthful and refer her for perjury. The Office of Public Prosecutions prepares and conducts criminal matters on behalf of the director.

Medical evidence presented to the court indicated that Warnecke would have survived if she had been in a hospital. Postpartum haemorrhage is the most common complication of childbirth, and women in well-resourced countries rarely die from it in a hospital setting. Ellyard noted that Warnecke would also have survived a home birth attended by a registered midwife. "She suffered a known complication of childbirth, which was eminently treatable if identified and responded to immediately," Ellyard said.

Lal asked Warnecke three times if she wanted an ambulance after the placenta was delivered. Warnecke agreed on the third attempt. Paramedics arrived to find her seriously unwell. Warnecke died in hospital several hours later. The hospital exhausted its blood supply in an effort to save her. Coroner McCarthy will deliver her findings at a later date.