Failure to protect child who died ‘inexcusable’

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This article was published 08/08/2025 (373 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 40-year-old Winnipeg man said he had “no excuses” to offer after his baby daughter died with methamphetamine in her bloodstream.

“I was meant to protect her, and I didn’t,” Christopher Mattern told provincial court Judge Murray Thompson at a sentencing hearing Thursday afternoon.

Mattern, who previously pleaded guilty to one count of failing to provide the necessaries of life, was sentenced to 21 months time served.

Court heard Mattern and the girl’s mother have long struggled with drug addiction and used methamphetamine regularly in their Westdale neighbourhood home.

On Feb. 2, 2022, the couple awoke to find their three-month-old daughter not breathing and called 911. She was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead that day.

Police found the couple’s house in “hoarding-like living conditions,” with drug paraphernalia throughout the home, Crown attorney Alanna Littman told court.

“Other drug users would visit and use the residence as a place to use methamphetamine,” Littman said. “The couple would allow this to take place, having no concern for the (child’s) safety.”

An autopsy detected the presence of methamphetamine in the child’s bloodstream, but not the amount, and a cause of death could not be determined. Littman said there is evidence the girl was born with “respiratory issues,” had contracted COVID-19 shortly after her birth and was doing “quite poorly” the week before she died.

“The Crown does not need to prove that Mr. Mattern knew the risk of danger or intended to expose his child to any risk of danger,” Littman said. “It is accepted that there is no safe level of exposure to an illicit drug… It is on that basis that he has pleaded guilty.”

Defence lawyer Matt Munce said Mattern’s substance abuse struggles started in his teens, when he learned he was adopted. He remained a “functioning substance user” through most of his adult years until methamphetamine took him on a “downward spiral he couldn’t control,” Munce said.

Since his release on bail in May, Mattern has abided by all of his release conditions, reconnected with his faith and participated in counselling, showing evidence of “sincere and genuine remorse,” Munce said.

Thompson called Mattern’s actions “inexcusable.”

“A 90-day-old baby is so vulnerable… they rely on parents to protect them,” Thompson said. “I’m sure your parents and her grandparents are heartbroken. Their loss is unimaginable.”

Mattern received 1.5 days credit for each day served before his release on bail, the equivalent of approximately 21 months.

Thompson sentenced Mattern to an additional two years of supervised probation, during which he is to undergo additional counselling as ordered and not be alone with anyone under the age of 16.

Co-accused Alison Kimberly Muise, 41, is set to stand trial in September.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca