Grandfather of baby who died with meth in her bloodstream testifies in daughter’s trial

The father of a woman arrested after her infant daughter died with methamphetamine in her bloodstream told a court Wednesday he never saw any evidence his daughter was using drugs at the time of the girl’s death.

“Not while I was around,” Lou Muise testified at the trial of his daughter Alison Muise. “I didn’t see liquor or beer in the house. I didn’t see her being high, drunk or anything.”

Alison Muise, 42, is on trial charged with one count of failing to provide the necessaries of life.

Three-month-old Layla Mattern-Muise was rushed to hospital Feb. 2, 2022, after Muise and the child’s father Christopher Mattern awoke to find her not breathing. She was pronounced dead that day.

Mattern pleaded guilty to failing to provide necessaries of life and was sentenced in August to 21 months of time served.

An autopsy detected the presence of methamphetamine in Layla’s bloodstream, but not the amount, and a cause of death could not be determined, court has previously heard. The child was born with respiratory issues, spent a month in hospital before she went home and had suffered a collapsed lung prior to her death.

Police photos taken inside Muise’s Westdale townhouse following the child’s death showed a home in disarray, with garbage on the floors and drug paraphernalia clearly visible.

Lou Muise said the pictures bore no resemblance to the home he visited up to four times a week, the last time just two days before Layla died.

“This is messy, cluttered,” Muise said, referring to the police photographs. “There was never stuff all over the floor. It was never like this. It was tidier, things were put in place.”

Under cross-examination, Muise said he didn’t accept the results of a drug test administered by Child and Family Services that showed his daughter had previously tested positive for meth.

“In fact, you didn’t believe your daughter was doing meth at any time,” Crown attorney Alanna Littman said to Muise.

“No, and I still don’t,” he said, alleging his daughter had been given the wrong test.

A former roommate previously testified he, Alison Muise and Mattern were all using meth daily when he lived at the home and that the home was a magnet for other drug users in the area.

Lou Muise told court Wednesday he was unaware his daughter and Mattern had a roommate and thought the man was a caretaker for the residential complex.

Muise agreed on cross-examination that the police pictures of her daughter’s home depicted an environment that placed her young daughter “in harm’s way.”

“She wasn’t safe in that house on the date that she died and leading up to it,” Littman put to Muise.

“Doesn’t look like it,” he said.

Alison Muise testified in September she had no idea anyone in her home was using methamphetamine.

“I wouldn’t know what (methamphetamine) looked like,” she told court.

When shown a picture of what Crown attorney Jennifer Malabar said was a meth pipe found in a bedside table drawer, Muise said: “It’s some sort of contraption, yes,” but could not confirm it was what Malabar said it was.

Another picture taken the same day Layla died showed a baby bottle on Muise’s bed that was found to have traces of methamphetamine.

“I can’t confirm I fed her out of that bottle or how long it had been on the bed,” she said.

Closing arguments in the case will be heard Dec. 10.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca