Father gets time served for toddler’s fentanyl death

A Winnipeg man who, along with his wife, waited nearly eight hours before calling 911 after their toddler ingested a fatal dose of fentanyl will serve no more jail time.

Garry Daniel Adrian Bruce pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2023 death of his 23-month-old daughter, Hanna, and was sentenced Monday to the equivalent of nearly three years in custody, which he has already served.

Bruce, 40, wiped tears from his face and sobbed intermittently as court heard how Hanna died in her garbage-ridden Stella Avenue duplex home.

Bruce failed in fulfilling the “basic duty owed to a child,” resulting in Hanna’s “profoundly tragic” death, King’s Bench Justice Christian Monnin said.

“The consequences of that failure are irreversible, and Mr. Bruce will have to live with the consequences of that for the rest of his life,” Monnin said.

An agreed statement of facts provided to court states Hanna’s mother, Sabrina Faye Boulette, noticed the child appeared “listless” at about 10 a.m. on March 23. The child’s condition worsened over the next seven hours, and she “clearly needed emergency medical treatment.”

Bruce didn’t call 911 until about 5:45 p.m. Bruce and Boulette told emergency responders there were no drugs in the home, claiming they had left the child with a babysitter while they went out looking at apartments. They said they returned to find the babysitter gone and Hanna in medical distress, and called 911 immediately.

The couple’s story quickly fell apart when police interviewed them. Officers searched the couple’s apartment and found it in “deplorable condition,” strewn with drug paraphernalia, garbage and dog feces.

“There were numerous hazards for anyone, let alone a toddler,” Crown attorney Boyd McGill said in court, reading from the statement of facts.

An autopsy confirmed Hanna died from fentanyl intoxication.

“It is unclear exactly how Hanna ingested fentanyl,” McGill said. “What is clear is that by not seeking immediate medical assistance, life-saving Naloxone was not administered in time.”

Defence lawyer Kristen Jones alleged Boulette “pressured” Bruce to stick to the babysitter story and not admit there was drugs in the home, fearing the toddler would be seized by Child and Family Services.

Jones said it is “cruel irony” that lying in an attempt to keep Hanna with them “contributed to losing her forever.”

Boulette, 39, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is awaiting sentencing.

“I have so much guilt,” she wrote in a letter provided to court at a sentencing hearing last month. “As a mother, I failed tremendously… I will not try to blame anyone but myself.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca