Judge sends father to prison for seven years after manslaughter conviction in ‘abhorrent’ fatal assault on infant

A Winnipeg man found guilty of fatally assaulting his infant son was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison.

Mathieu Moreau, 34, was convicted of manslaughter after a judge 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.

“The victim couldn’t be more vulnerable,” said King’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond. “The breach of trust was egregious. The offence is abhorrent.”

Prosecutors had urged Bond to sentence Moreau to between 10 and 12 years in prison, a sentencing range Bond rejected as too high, finding it is typically reserved for cases of repeated and prolonged abuse, which wasn’t proven in Moreau’s case.

Court heard at trial Maven’s mother Evelyn 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 year, 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.

“I concluded that Mr. Moreau had inflicted some sort of assault on Maven that may have included shaking him, hitting him, throwing him or any combination of these acts,” Bond said Friday.

A psychiatrist who testified for the defence told court Moreau lives with cognitive limitations, is easily confused and has difficulty accurately interpreting reality. According to a pre-sentence report, Moreau has taken no steps to address problems managing his anger or “emotional regulation,” Bond said.

“I find there is no basis to conclude his degree of responsibility is reduced by his cognitive limitations,” Bond said. “I infer from the circumstances that he acted impulsively and out of frustration or anger. This makes his failure to take counselling or see a therapist concerning.”

Gillis, in a victim impact statement provided to court in April, said she continues to struggle with grief every day.

“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.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca