An Edmonton woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter in the killing of an eight-year-old girl in a case that has seen police publicly challenge Crown prosecutors.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Jody Fraser accepted the plea from the 29-year-old, who police said was originally charged with first-degree murder but the Crown said faced a charge of second-degree murder. A date for sentencing is to be set later.
Relatives chanted “no justice, no peace,” as they filed out of court.
The courtroom filled with the sobs following the manslaughter plea, as a prosecutor read an agreed statement of facts detailing chronic abuse and neglect the victim suffered while in the care of the accused.
The girl, who can’t be identified because of a publication ban, lived with the woman from September 2022 until her death from blunt force head trauma in April 2023.
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Court heard the woman, who also can’t be identified, was drinking alcohol and using methamphetamine the night the girl died.
The Crown said the girl was found lying on the floor bleeding next to a hole in the wall, but it’s not known how she sustained her head injury.
The accused didn’t call 911 and instead phoned acquaintances for help.
The child’s body was later found in a hockey bag in the back of a truck on the Samson Cree Nation in Maskwacis, south of Edmonton.
An autopsy showed she had multiple broken bones that had previously healed. She had also been suffering from sepsis because of an untreated infected tooth, which reduced her chances of surviving the head injury.
“That’s not manslaughter!” yelled some of the girl’s family as the details were read.
Later outside court, an aunt of the victim said a manslaughter plea is unacceptable.
“We don’t feel like justice was served here today,” she said.
“We are broken, we are devastated, and we feel like we have been silenced for the past two years.”
Other family members said they trust the police and appreciate what they’re doing.
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“They’re our voice right now,” said one relative.
Edmonton police object to manslaughter plea
The plea came a day after Edmonton’s interim police chief made public a letter from his force to Alberta’s justice ministry saying it was aware of the plea deal and urging the Crown to call it off.
The letter challenges the traditional firewall that separates police, who investigate a case, from prosecutors, who determine how best to proceed with the case in court.
The Edmonton Police Service said on Tuesday that, for the first time in its history, it had sent a letter to Alberta Justice requesting a review of a decision by the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service to accept a manslaughter plea “for the horrific murder of a child.”
Police said they’ve become “frequently aghast” with prosecutorial decisions.
“What we expect from the Crown — what you and the public should expect — is that the Crown is a zealous advocate for justice,” the EPS letter said.
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“Unfortunately, so far, we have not seen that in this case.”
The EPS threatened that if the Crown did not change course, police would release their own details of the case so it could be judged in the court of public opinion.
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The letter was sent Monday by EPS legal and regulatory services director Megan Hankewich to Kim Goddard, the provincial assistant deputy justice minister.
The letter was also signed by interim chief Warren Driechel, one of two deputy chiefs currently leading the EPS, and cc’d to Justice Minister Mickey Amery.
Police said the file related “to the extreme child abuse and ultimate homicide” of an Edmonton girl.
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The letter challenged the traditional firewall that separates police, who investigate a case, from prosecutors, who determine how best to proceed with the case in court.
Police said a significantly reduced sentence that would typically accompany a manslaughter conviction would fail to see justice done in the killing.
“While we maintain hope that this case will see a trial, we will not publicly publish details of the evidence collected, so as to avoid the risk of tainting the prospective jury pool.
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“However, if the matter concludes as currently planned, there is no jury pool to taint.
“Therefore, we will share significant information from our investigation with the public so that they can properly assess whether this prosecution and plea agreement were concluded appropriately and advocate in a public forum for a stronger prosecution service.”
The Edmonton Police Service is addressing the manslaughter plea on Wednesday afternoon. This story will be updated after that.
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On April 24, 2023, police stopped by a home near 87 Avenue and 165 Street in west Edmonton to check in on the well-being of the child.
When she was nowhere to be found, officers began investigating. There were “suspicious circumstances,” and EPS said the homicide section took over the case.
Her body was found a few days later on Samson Cree Nation in Maskwacis, which is located about a one-hour drive south of Edmonton.
An autopsy found the girl died of blunt impact trauma, and the death was confirmed to be a homicide.
Global News can’t identify the child or family due to a publication ban to protect both the victim and other children related to her.
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Global News spoke with a woman who called 911 after hearing a rumour that a child may have been seriously injured or was dead.
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She said her nephew told her he showed up at the apartment where the child was allegedly injured and saw an unconscious girl with a head wound in a bedroom and a dent on the wall.
Even before the girl was found, police believed she may have been killed. The then-27-year-old woman was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and indignity to a dead body.
Four other people were also charged with accessory to murder and indignity to a dead body.
Two men pleaded guilty this summer to causing an indignity to a body and were sentenced to nearly three years. They were given credit for time served and released.
Two others are charged with being an accessory to murder and causing an indignity to a body.
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The woman’s name and that of one of the other accused were withheld by police to protect the identity of other children related to the dead girl.
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Rare move by Edmonton police
Shawn King, president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association, called the letter essentially an “extortion tactic,” as it promises to release previously unpublished details of the case.
“This is extremely inappropriate,” the defence lawyer said Tuesday. “They’re in charge of doing these criminal investigations and handing the evidence over to the Crown prosecutor to deal with it unbiasedly.
“And now the police are directly interfering with the Crown’s authority to proceed as they see fit, like they’re quasi-ministers of justice.”
NorQuest College justice studies chair and criminologist Dan Jones spent 25 years as a member of the Edmonton Police Service and said he’s never seen police issue such a forcefully worded letter.
“I think that’s a very bold move, and I think they are obviously feeling so strongly about this case.”
Jones noted the details of the homicide are horrible and speculated there was perhaps fear within the police service that accepting a lesser plea deal would set a precedent in the courts going forward.
“As these move on and different ones happen, they just reference as case law and all of the sudden you’re seeing people that murder children get lesser sentences? I think that’s a valid concern.”
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“I’ve never seen this before, but maybe there needs to be some pushback from system to system to try to create some change so people feel safe.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she’s glad the police tried to intervene.
“I think that if the Crown prosecution service declines to prosecute or take things to trial, they need to go public with their reasons, so that people understand why they feel that there was not a reasonable likelihood of conviction,” Smith said at an unrelated event in Calgary.
“People want to see that people are going to be punished to the maximum capable under the law, and sometimes that can only happen with a trial.”
Prosecutor Terry Hofmann told court public commentary on the case could prejudice the right to a fair trial for other accused.
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— With files from Matthew Scace, The Canadian Press