Crown appealing acquittal in child’s death

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This article was published 25/04/2012 (5153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba justice officials are fighting a judge’s decision to clear a man of sexually assaulting and killing his ex-girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter.

A notice of appeal was filed earlier this month in the case against Jason Kines, who was acquitted of first-degree murder, sexual interference and aggravated sexual assault in a Dauphin courtroom in March. No date has been set for a hearing.

Venecia Audy died in August 2006 while living with Kines and her mother, Melissa Audy, at their home in Bowsman, about 20 kilometres north of Swan River. The little girl suffered numerous injuries including a fractured skull, lacerated liver, broken ribs, a spinal injury, numerous bruises throughout her body and several human bite marks, including a “skin-breaking” bite just above her vagina. The child was also undersized, weighing just 27 pounds.

This case and several other deaths previously sparked a review of Manitoba’s child-welfare system.

Queen’s Bench Justice Brian Midwinter agreed with a defence “no evidence” motion during Kines’ trial, saying there was not sufficient evidence against the accused to put his fate in the hands of a jury. His decision abruptly ended the case following nearly three weeks of testimony.

Kines, 32, did plead guilty to a charge of failing to provide the necessities of life and was given 10 months in jail in addition to time already served. That’s the same charge the Audy, pleaded guilty to in 2009. She was originally charged with murder, but the Crown dropped the case before trial.

The Crown is now asking the Manitoba Court of Appeal to consider whether Midwinter made an “error in law” in his decision. Much of the case against Kines involved bite marks found on the victim’s buttocks and vaginal area, which the Crown claimed belonged to Kines.

A forensics expert had testified Kines was the probable biter, but Midwinter dismissed that key piece of evidence during the trial, saying proof of a link to Kines had not been proven “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

At her sentencing, Audy admitted to waiting several hours before calling 911 to report her daughter was severely injured. Audy then lied to authorities, telling them that Venecia had fallen down the stairs. Kines wasn’t home when the child died.

At Kines’ trial, the Crown argued Venecia had likely been dead for hours before her mother made the emergency call. Kines was out the night before Venecia was killed. He got home around 3:30 in the morning. A friend who picked him up for work the next day claims he saw Venecia alive.

That potential alibi also contributed to the decisioin by Midwinter, as did the fact the Crown could not prove Kines was the only man who might have violated the baby because the basement window opened wide enough to admit an adult.

Audy began dating Kines a year before Venecia died, which is within the time frame of when the abuse occurred. Venecia was a CFS baby. Her mother had been under scrutiny since she had her first child at 15. She was deemed an unfit parent in 2003, had her children seized and began fighting to get them back in 2004. In 2006, a family court judge ordered the children returned to their mother. A few months later, Venecia was dead.

www.mikeoncrime.com