Court rejects dad’s appeal in toddler’s death

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This article was published 16/07/2020 (2148 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s highest court has upheld an eight-year prison sentence for a man whose neglect contributed to his young daughter’s death at the hands of her mother.

Daniel Vernon Williams of Peguis First Nation was convicted of manslaughter following a jury trial in 2018. His 21-month-old daughter, Kierra Elektra Star Williams, died of internal bleeding following an assault by her mother, Vanessa Bushie, on July 14, 2014.

Bushie pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced in 2017 to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years.

In a 16-page decision released Thursday, the Manitoba Court of Appeal dismissed Williams’s conviction appeal, granted him leave to appeal his sentence and then dismissed that as well.

Kierra was placed in foster care at birth and returned to her parents at nine months of age. She died just one year later.

Jurors at Williams’s trial were told Kierra had been malnourished and physically abused for months before she died. Her injuries included 11 fractured ribs, fractures to her arm and skull and five missing teeth.

Williams argued on appeal that the sentencing judge did not properly consider his degree of participation or non-participation in Kierra’s death, given that he did not assault the girl and was not present when the fatal assault occurred. Williams also argued the judge did not give proper weight to his background as an Indigenous person and evidence that he suffered from battered spouse syndrome.

Williams did not testify, but in a police statement provided to court, he said he saw Bushie angrily pick up Kierra by her arm and on another occasion heard Kierra’s head hit the floor after Bushie changed her diaper in a rough manner.

Williams told police he did nothing to help the child and that he and Bushie decided to isolate her so family members would not report them to social workers. Williams said he and Bushie decided not to seek medical attention for Kierra, fearing they would lose custody of their two other children.

While Williams may not have directly caused Kierra’s death, he made “deliberate choices” that allowed it to happen, Justice Karen Simonsen wrote on behalf of the appeal court.

Williams “was aware of the child’s suffering and knew that she needed medical attention, but nonetheless repeatedly chose to do nothing about it,” Simonsen said. “During that time, the child went from a healthy baby to one whose battered and emaciated appearance shocked hospital staff. In all the circumstances I take no issue with the trial judge’s assessment of the accused’s moral culpability as very high.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca