Edmonton police are, in an unprecedented move, slamming the Crown for accepting a lesser plea in the case of an eight-year-old girl who was killed two years ago, resulting in first-degree murder charges at the time.
The Edmonton Police Service said that, for the first time in its history, it has 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.”
The EPS threatened if the Crown does not change course, police will release their own details of the case so it can be judged in the court of public opinion.
The letter was sent Monday by EPS legal and regulatory services director Megan Hankewich to Kim Goddard, the provincial assistant deputy justice minister. Their bosses were looped in.
“I am taking the extraordinary step today of asking you to review a file pursuant to your jurisdiction under R v Nixon, to review the decisions being made by (the) prosecuting Crown to resolve an egregious homicide file in a way that we believe would constitute a significant miscarriage of justice,” Hankewich wrote.
Edmonton police said the file “relates to the extreme child abuse and ultimate homicide” of an girl. The eight-year-old went missing in April 2023 before being found dead a few days later.
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.
Global News spoke with a woman who called 911 after hearing a rumour that a child may have been seriously injured or was dead.
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. A 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.
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.
The Edmonton Police Service said officers conducted an extensive investigation and obtained significant evidence, resulting in an almost 80-page summary by homicide detectives that depicted “significant child abuse and sufficient evidence to justify to our officers reasonable grounds to charge the accused with first-degree murder.”
But now, the Crown’s handling of the case has prompted police to speak out.
“To our shock and horror, we were advised that the prosecuting Crown has agreed to accept a guilty plea of manslaughter with an eight-year sentence,” Hankewich wrote, adding police said allowing that to go ahead would be a miscarriage of justice.
The letter references the child abuse case of Baby M, a two-year-old who died of head trauma and starvation a decade ago.
She and her twin sister were found in 2015 suffering from injuries and severe malnourishment — weighing just 13 and 16 pounds respectively — in their parents’ Edmonton home in 2012. Baby M went into cardiac arrest and slipped into a coma in hospital, where a CT scan showed global atrophy of the baby’s brain. She died after being removed from life support.
That was another case in which murder charges were laid, but a manslaughter plea was accepted. The Crown sought 23 to 25 years in prison but agreed to a 15-year sentence.
Hankewich said the Baby M case illustrates the inappropriateness of the sentence being proposed now, saying it came at a time “when we were less frequently aghast with prosecutorial decisions.”
Police said if the plea deal from the 2023 homicide is allowed to go through, officers do not feel justice will be served.
“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.
“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.”
“It is trite law that the Crown does not win or lose,” Hankewich said at the end of the two-page letter.
“But what we expect from the Crown — what you and the public should expect — is that the Crown is a zealous advocate for justice. Unfortunately, so far, we have not seen that in this case.”
The letter was signed by interim Chief Warren Driechel, one of two deputy chiefs currently leading the EPS, and cc’d to Justice Minister Mickey Amery.
The matter is expected to be heard in court on Wednesday morning.
— More to come…