‘Instead of walking Maven through life, I had to walk him to the morgue’

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This article was published 23/04/2025 (223 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The mother of a three-month-old boy fatally assaulted by his father told a court Tuesday she was gripped by thoughts of suicide after her son was “senselessly and cruelly” killed.

“I truly felt there was no purpose for me left” and that death would reunite her with her child, Evelyn Gillis said at a sentencing hearing for her former partner Mathieu Moreau.

Moreau, 35, was found guilty of manslaughter after a judge last year rejected his testimony at trial claiming he found the child in his crib in unexplained medical distress.

Moreau’s son Maven was rushed to hospital with a traumatic brain injury on Jan. 11, 2020, and was taken off life support six days later.

Gillis cried as she recounted the grief and pain she and her family live with every day, her voice rising in anger as she frequently turned to look at Moreau seated in the court gallery with his family.

“We trusted that Mathieu was telling us the truth that night it happened,” Gillis said. “The extent of the betrayal didn’t end there. You watched us suffer, mourn, grieve, and you attended Maven’s funeral planning. You manipulated and disrespected us when we were in our most fragile state.

“I had to go through my first Mother’s Day without my son,” she said. “Instead of walking Maven through life, I had to walk him to the morgue. The tremendous void will never be filled and our heartbreak will never go away.”

Prosecutors are urging King’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond to sentence Moreau to 10 to 12 years in prison.

“Instead of loving and protecting Maven, Mr. Moreau did the opposite, committing a violent act that resulted in several fractures and a catastrophic brain injury, killing him,” Crown attorney Jennifer Mann said.

Mann said there was no evidence Moreau was “overwhelmed” by caring for Maven, noting his in-laws were always available to help and lived just a short walk from his home.

“To this day we have no explanation for his behaviour toward Maven,” Mann said.

Court heard at trial Gillis was out for dinner in Osborne Village when Moreau called her parents, then 911, to report their son was having trouble breathing in his crib in their Nassau Street apartment shortly after 9 p.m.

Moreau testified he had gone for a nap, then heard Maven gurgling in his crib when he went to the washroom after waking up. He burped him after seeing infant formula come from his mouth and nose, he told court, before calling for help.

Prosecutors alleged Moreau was financially stressed, tired from working two jobs and upset that he had to return home to care for Maven when he “lost control” and assaulted the child, causing the fatal head injury and shin fractures.

Bond, in a written decision convicting Moreau last April, said medical evidence provided to court indicated Maven would have shown immediate signs of having suffered a brain injury, which Moreau testified he did not see when he arrived home to care for the child.

Moreau was acquitted of an additional count of assault relating to a mouth injury the baby suffered while in his care a day before he was rushed to hospital.

Defence lawyers Wednesday recommended Moreau be sentenced to no more than five years in prison, arguing his assault on the child was a “spontaneous action” and “momentary lapse” and that he has good prospects for rehabilitation.

Moreau was found criminally responsible for Maven’s death, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t grieving, said defence lawyer Bruce Bonney.

“He also feels terrible for what happened, he loved his child,” Bonney said.

Bond will sentence Moreau on May 30. He remains free on bail.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca