Court overturns acquittal of man accused of causing child’s death

By Mike McIntyre

Manitoba’s highest court has overturned a judge’s decision to clear a man of sexually assaulting and killing his ex-girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter.

Jason Kines was acquitted of first-degree murder, sexual interference and aggravated sexual assault in a Dauphin courtroom in March. The Crown filed an immediate appeal, which was argued Thursday morning in Winnipeg.

It took less than an hour for the three-justice panel to rule in favour of the Crown.

“I have every confidence that even if it goes to a jury again, he will be acquitted,” defence lawyer Jody Ostapiw told the Free Press on Thursday outside court.

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. Venecia suffered numerous injuries, including a fractured skull, lacerated liver, broken ribs, a spinal injury, numerous bruises throughout her body and several human bite marks. The child was also undersize, weighing just 27 pounds.

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

“All of the evidence, when construed as a whole, points to Jason Kines as the person who committed this murder,” Crown attorney Donovan Dvorak told jurors in his opening statement. He said the case against Kines was largely “circumstantial.”

“He was not present when Venecia died. But it is the position of the Crown that not only was he present when the injuries that caused Venecia’s death occurred, but that he caused them,” he said.

But the trial took a stunning twist when Queen’s Bench Justice Brian Midwinter agreed with a defence “no-evidence” motion following three weeks of testimony, saying there was not sufficient evidence against the accused to put his fate in the hands of a jury.

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 Audy pleaded guilty to in 2009.

Much of the case against Kines involved bite marks 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 a link to Kines had not been proven “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

At her sentencing, Audy admitted waiting several hours b

By Mike McIntyre

Manitoba’s highest court has overturned a judge’s decision to clear a man of sexually assaulting and killing his ex-girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter.

Jason Kines was acquitted of first-degree murder, sexual interference and aggravated sexual assault in a Dauphin courtroom in March. The Crown filed an immediate appeal, which was argued Thursday morning in Winnipeg.

It took less than an hour for the three-justice panel to rule in favour of the Crown.

“I have every confidence that even if it goes to a jury again, he will be acquitted,” defence lawyer Jody Ostapiw told the Free Press on Thursday outside court.

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. Venecia suffered numerous injuries, including a fractured skull, lacerated liver, broken ribs, a spinal injury, numerous bruises throughout her body and several human bite marks. The child was also undersize, weighing just 27 pounds.

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

“All of the evidence, when construed as a whole, points to Jason Kines as the person who committed this murder,” Crown attorney Donovan Dvorak told jurors in his opening statement. He said the case against Kines was largely “circumstantial.”

“He was not present when Venecia died. But it is the position of the Crown that not only was he present when the injuries that caused Venecia’s death occurred, but that he caused them,” he said.

But the trial took a stunning twist when Queen’s Bench Justice Brian Midwinter agreed with a defence “no-evidence” motion following three weeks of testimony, saying there was not sufficient evidence against the accused to put his fate in the hands of a jury.

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 Audy pleaded guilty to in 2009.

Much of the case against Kines involved bite marks 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 a link to Kines had not been proven “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

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

At Kines’s 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. A friend who picked him up for work the next day claims he saw Venecia alive.

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

www.mikeoncrime.com

efore calling 911 to report her daughter was severely injured. Audy then lied to authorities, telling them Venecia had fallen down the stairs. Kines wasn’t home when the child died.

At Kines’s 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. A friend who picked him up for work the next day claims he saw Venecia alive.

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

www.mikeoncrime.com