Child 'M' beating, starvation death leaves judge asking why
A judge halted the sentencing hearing Monday of a mother who beat and starved her daughter to death to ask the Crown prosecutor why it happened.
Justice Eric Macklin stopped lawyer Shelley Bykewich's sentencing arguments to ask what led to the dysfunctional relationship between the mother and her daughters, when there was no evidence the woman had any psychological problems.
Bykewich said every once in a while there is a case that is so horrific, a person with any kind of empathy simply cannot fathom it.
Bykewich asked for a sentence of 23 to 25 years, saying the only mitigating factor is the guilty plea, which came late and only after the woman's husband pleaded guilty and accused her of inflicting all of the children's physical injuries.
Earlier in Monday's hearing, an Alberta Children and Youth Services social worker testified she and her colleagues "could never have prepared for such a horrendous case" of child abuse as that of child "M" and her twin sister.
In her victim impact statement, Sheli Steil described the case as the "worst case of neglect and mistreatment any of us had witnessed in our careers."
The two-year-old girl, who can only be identified as “M” under Alberta child welfare legislation, died after being removed from life-support following a lengthy court battle between the parents and doctors.
The twins had been beaten and starved.
The mother, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of her surviving children, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, aggravated assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life.
The woman admitted earlier she regularly physically abused her twin girls and that she starved them over a long period.
Her husband was sentenced to 15 years in prison last spring after pleading guilty to manslaughter. The Crown concluding he “chose to do nothing” to protect his daughters from the abuse.
The woman and her husband also had a son who, unlike his sisters, was well-fed, well-clothed and healthy.
The woman's sentencing hearing was postponed last October, when the woman's lawyer announced he had to withdraw from the case after new information created an "ethical conflict."
The hearing is expected to last through the week, as all testimony must be translated into Arabic.
