Mother who killed, abused and neglected toddler imprisoned for life

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“I’m left looking at this situation mindful of the phrase that it takes a village to raise a child,” a Manitoba judge said quietly as he imposed a life sentence with no chance of parole for 14 years on a Peguis mother who admitted to killing her toddler daughter after months of neglect and abuse.

“And saying to myself, ‘where the hell was this village?’”

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Chris Martin sentenced 39-year-old Vanessa Bushie Wednesday afternoon for second-degree murder in the death of 21-month-old Kierra Elektra Star Williams. The judge imposed the mandatory life sentence along with the 14-year period of parole ineligibility that was recommended by Crown and defence lawyers.

“I can’t go into all the circumstances of what other agencies or other people knew or didn’t know or did or didn’t do,” the judge said.

“The flags were there that this child was in danger,” he added, describing the tragedy as “truly shocking and stunning.”

“It should not have happened. This child should not have died.”

The malnourishment, neglect and physical abuse Kierra suffered dated back months before her death – it could have been as many as six months, but it was likely three or four, according to medical testimony heard at Bushie’s preliminary inquiry last winter. Up to 24 hours before her death on July 17, 2014, her mother purposefully assaulted her and caused a fatal abdominal injury that left the little girl with internal bleeding, a ruptured pancreas and damage to her liver and spleen.

There were no witnesses to the fatal assault, court heard.

“For some reason, there’s a relative dearth of information and observation respecting the deterioration of that child,” leading up to the day she died, Crown prosecutor Daniel Chaput said.

By that time, Kierra had already been malnourished for up to two months and had suffered several broken ribs, a skull fracture, a dislocated and fractured shoulder, a cut upper lip and missing teeth. The tip of her nose was missing, likely due to attempts to rid her of eczema, court heard. When she was rushed to hospital after her mother phoned 911 to report Kierra was unresponsive, she was badly bruised, dehydrated, emaciated and barely breathing.

“It’s trite to say that given the nature of the injuries, the circumstances, that the actions of Ms. Bushie were brutal, callous, heinous, inexcusable, inexplicable,” Chaput said, saying Kierra suffered “prolonged, dogged abuse” by her mother.

Defence lawyer Mike Cook agreed Bushie’s actions were inexcusable, but he described her as a “tragic figure” and a “broken person” who was “at her wit’s end” with a baby she couldn’t bond with. She asked for help from CFS and family members, but didn’t get the help or the counselling she needed, and is now trying to become a better person, Cook said.

“She’s not a monster… she did some monstrous things to Kierra, but she’s a woman who has a lot of frailties and disappointments and a lot of difficulties in her own past,” he said.

Bushie was “thrilled” when Kierra and her two older siblings were returned to her and her partner, Daniel Williams, in July 2013, Cook said. The two older children had been removed due to a domestic-violence allegation against Williams and Kierra was apprehended at birth in October 2012.

“My client was thrilled to have the three children back at home. The difficulty is that Kierra was never comfortable in my client’s home,” he said.

As Bushie wept in the prisoner’s box, Cook described to the court the sexual assaults she experienced at six and 12 years old, and said she carried overwhelming guilt and partly blamed herself for her father’s murder. He died when she was 16 after being beaten. One of those involved was the man who assaulted her when she was 12, Cook said.

In addition to impaired driving charges from 2005, she was charged in 2007 with an assault against her oldest daughter, who was in her teens at the time. Bushie did community service as part of an 18-month suspended sentence with probation for that assault.

While Bushie told paramedics Kierra had choked on a sausage and she had dropped her on the head while giving her the Heimlich manoeuvre, the little girl arrived at the Hodgson hospital weighing less than she had when she was returned by Child and Family Services to her biological parents a year earlier as a “healthy, happy” baby, Chaput told court. But Kierra’s autopsy told “a much more sordid and disconcerting story” than could be explained by choking on a sausage, he said.

The Crown’s case relied on preliminary inquiry testimony from Kierra’s 15-year-old and 12-year-old half-sisters who didn’t live in the Bushie-Williams home but would often go over to babysit. In their testimonies, the older girls described seeing their mother “hurt” Kierra: she would be force-fed, pushed, hit, slapped, kept in a locked room for hours or even days without food or forced to sleep on the floor. Bushie would get angry and throw Kierra into the locked room, and told the older children not to comfort or “baby” her. Kierra would cry non-stop and often refuse food, which only led to more anger and frustration from her mother.

Kierra had been taken into foster care at birth in October 2012 after her mother made domestic-violence allegations against her father. As a result, Kierra’s older siblings were already in the care of Child and Family Services. Her parents worked to regain custody, and after they completed all required programs, Kierra and her siblings were returned to their parents in July 2013. CFS officials visited the family occasionally until January 2014. Kierra seemed shy but happy, her siblings were doing well and the home was well-kept. CFS officials found nothing of concern and decided to close Kierra’s file. Six months after the CFS visits stopped, Kierra was dead.

RCMP began a lengthy investigation that culminated in January 2015 with charges against Bushie, Kierra’s father, Daniel Williams, and her adult sister, Jasmine Bushie. All charges against Jasmine were dropped late last year and she has since sued the RCMP for its handling of the case. The lawsuit is still before the court and the Attorney General of Canada is defending itself against the allegations.

Williams is charged with manslaughter and failing to provide the necessaries of life. He is set to go to trial in February.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay