Toronto grandparents guilty in child starvation trial
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CTV.ca News Staff
After hearing months of heart-wrenching testimony, a judge told two Toronto grandparents they are guilty of second-degree murder for the starvation death of their five-year-old grandson in 2002.
Justice David Watt handed down his verdict for Elva Bottineau and her common-law husband Norman Kidman on Friday afternoon.
The pair are expected to be sentenced at a later date.
Details of Jeffrey Baldwin's short life with his grandparents were outlined for the court Friday in a lengthy address by Justice David Watt that took much of the day.
Officially, the five-year-old died of pneumonia and septic shock. But the events of his life suggest a slow and desperate demise.
The Catholic Children's Aid Society (CCAS) placed Jeffrey in the care of his grandparents in 1998 while the agency probed allegations of abuse by his parents.
A videotaped statement given to police by Baldwin's sister – who cannot be identified -- described a scene of squalor in the grandparent's home.
She recounted how the unheated bedroom that she and her brother were locked into each night became their bathroom.
The sister also told how the boy was called a "pig" by Bottineau and Kidman and forced to dig through garbage to find food and use the toilet for drinking water.
A former boarder in the home described a similar scene. James Mills told the court in Oct. 2005 that he witnessed the young boy begging for food and water, and saw Baldwin and his seven-year-old sister locked in the filthy bedroom for days at a time.
The boy – who had never attended school – succumbed to starvation in Nov. 2002. He weighed an emaciated 21 lbs. when he died just short of his sixth birthday. A healthy child of that age normally weighs twice as much.
Court arguments
During the trial, the prosecution argued that the onus for Baldwin's death rested equally between Bottineau and Kidman.
In her closing arguments last January, Bev Richards said that both grandparents abused the boy and that Bottineau knew her grandson would die if she did not feed him.
"Mr. Kidman and Ms. Bottineau viciously abused their position of trust and dominance over a protracted period of time," Richards told the court.
Both Bottineau and Kidman pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge. They also pleaded not guilty to forcible confinement of Baldwin's older sister.
Bottineau's lawyer claimed that the grandmother viewed the boy as a source of income because of the child benefit cheques that she received from the government. He argued that she did not intentionally kill her grandson since he would be no good to her dead.
He also claimed that his client was extremely mentally deficient and therefore did not know the consequences of her actions.
Kidman's lawyer argued that his client is only guilty of negligence since Bottineau was the one in charge of looking after the children.
The Crown built its case for neglect and abuse around the testimonies of Mills and Baldwin's sister.
Legal fallout
Immediately after the verdict was handed down, Ontario's chief coroner announced an inquest will be held.
"The circumstances surrounding Jeffrey's death have been a matter of public interest," Dr. Barry McLellan's office said in a written statement.
The Catholic Children's Aid Society (CCAS) came under fire during the trial for the decision to place children with Bottineau and Kidman.
It is alleged the CCAS did not do a background check on the grandparents prior to the children being placed in their care.
If a check had been done it would have revealed that both grandparents have previous child abuse convictions.
"Issues to be addressed at the inquest include the Toronto Catholic Children's Aid Society's involvement in Jeffrey's placement and the role that agency, and others, had in monitoring his well-being prior to his death," McLellan's statement said.
The coroner's office also established a policy to disclose details of all suspicious child deaths in the province.
The move, according to The Toronto Star, will blow the lid off the secrecy that previously surrounded such deaths.
Provincial coroners investigate about 230 child deaths every year; about 20 are deemed suspicious.
The policy change was prompted by Baldwin's death, The Star reported Friday.
With files from The Canadian Press