Jury must now decide fate of little Phoenix’s killers

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This article was published 10/12/2008 (6114 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THEY’VE sat through a month of heartbreaking testimony, learning every sordid detail about Phoenix Sinclair’s tragic life and her painful death.

But members of a Winnipeg jury were told to check their emotions at the door as they started deliberations Tuesday night into the fate of Phoenix’s two admitted killers.

“Punishment has no place in your discussions or in your decision,” Queen’s Bench Justice Karen Simonsen said at the end of her 141-page, four-hour closing instructions.

McKay and Kematch have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in a case that made headlines across Canada and cast a spotlight on Manitoba’s child welfare system. The pair admitted in their lawyers’ closing arguments last week to being “terrible” parents who deserve to be punished for the horrible neglect, abuse and death of five-year-old Phoenix. But they say they should only be found guilty of manslaughter, claiming there is insufficient evidence to prove the charge of first-degree murder.

Simonsen gave jurors a lengthy explanation of the law and summary of evidence starting at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Deliberations began just after 8 p.m. and will continue Wednesday morning. Jurors are isolated until they reach a unanimous verdict.

The Crown prosecutor has argued it is clear both McKay and Kematch played pivotal roles in Phoenix’s June 2005 slaying and the subsequent burial of her body near the garbage dump on the Fisher River First Nation, about 200 kilometres north of Winnipeg. Her remains weren’t found until March 2006.

Simonsen warned jurors Tuesday that the attempt to conceal the death by McKay and Kematch should have no bearing on the verdict.

“The after-the-fact conduct is no more consistent with murder than manslaughter,” she said.

In closing arguments last week, prosecutor Rick Saull argued McKay and Kematch killed Phoenix in the course of confining her to a cold, dark basement where she was frequently beaten and forced to sleep on the floor naked. He reminded jurors about other graphic testimony, including claims the girl was shot with a pellet gun, called degrading names and forced to eat her own vomit.

“This is not normal parenting in any country in this world. That was an illegal domination of a child,” Saull said.

“Death here for this little girl was inevitable, given the course of conduct by these two accused.”

Phoenix’s death remained a secret until McKay’s two teenage sons came forward and told police they had witnessed countless horrors against the little girl. The boys told jurors both Kematch and McKay played equal roles in the abuse.

— Mike McIntyre