Prosecutor stays criminal charge in Serenity case
The four-year-old died in 2014
Janice Johnston, Paige Parsons · CBC News
Serenity was four years old when she died of severe head trauma in an Edmonton hospital. (Supplied)
An Alberta prosecutor has stayed a criminal charge against the guardians of four-year-old Serenity, who died after suffering injuries while in kinship care.
The case prompted public outrage and an emergency debate in the Alberta legislature. Her death led to the creation of a panel looking into the province's child-intervention system.
Crown prosecutor Brandy Shaw filed the stay of proceedings Tuesday in Wetaskiwin Court of Queen's Bench.
"The charges were stayed following review of the evidence at the preliminary inquiry and a determination that we no longer had a reasonable likelihood of conviction," Shaw said in an email Tuesday.
Accused dispute the claims of horrific abuse
More than two years after four-year-old Serenity died in 2014, horrific details emerged about her apparent injuries at the time of her death.
The little girl's guardians claimed she fell off a tire swing, but some of her medical reports, leaked to the media, indicated she had bruising in her genital and pubic areas and a missing hymen.
Those reports were erroneous and inaccurate, the guardians claim in an amended statement of defence in response to a $1.6-million lawsuit filed by Serenity's mother.
New photos revealed of child who died in kinship care
"The allegation that Serenity was missing her hymen is completely false."
Serenity was living in a kinship care arrangement on a central Alberta reserve when she was admitted to an Edmonton hospital in September 2014. She died a week later after she was taken off life support.
The case prompted public outrage and an emergency debate in the Alberta legislature. Her death led to the creation of a panel looking into the province's child-intervention system. The provincial government later revamped its system for child intervention, based on recommendations from the panel.
The man and woman, who were the child's legal guardians, had been charged two years after the little girl's 2014 death with failure to provide the necessaries of life.
CBC is not publishing Serenity's surname, or identifying her mother or her caregivers in order to protect the identities of Serenity's siblings.
"We're all heartbroken because of this. The fight is not over. It's far from over," Serenity's mother said in an interview Tuesday.
The mother said Crown prosecutors and police investigators travelled to British Columbia and met with her Tuesday afternoon to give her the news.
She said she told them she does not want to speak with them anymore because they did nothing for her child, and then walked out of the meeting.
Grandchildren left in home
When Serenity was still clinging to life in an Edmonton hospital, custody of Serenity and her two siblings was transferred back their biological mother. The two siblings were apprehended from the home.
However, other children in the home — up to six grandchildren of the former foster parents — stayed behind.
'An agonizing case'
After a preliminary hearing in Wetaskiwin in February of this year, the pair was ordered to stand trial. The trial was due to begin this fall.
In a statement, Eric Tolppanen, assistant deputy minister of the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, said there was no longer any reasonable likelihood of conviction.
"In general, Crown consideration of a case continues to evolve after the initial decision is made to lay charges, and Crown prosecutors continue to evaluate the evidence in light of the prosecution standard of 'reasonable likelihood of conviction'," said Tolppanen.
Tolppanen added that the Crown has one year to potentially reinstate the charge and declined further comment.
Alberta Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer said the decision to stay the charge was made by the Crown, without government involvement.
"This is an agonizing case," said Schweitzer in a statement. "The decision to stay the prosecution was taken independently by the Crown attorneys without any involvement by elected officials."
Schweitzer noted there is a pending fatality inquiry and would not be commenting further on the matter.
Joshua Asp, the lawyer for the male accused, said Tuesday he did not know the stay was coming, but said he believes it's because his client and the co-accused are innocent, and because the prosecution have "an extremely weak case."
Asp said he is unable to disclose more information about the case until it is clear that the publication ban on the preliminary hearing has been lifted.
The charge was only laid after "extreme public pressure" on the legislature and media reports, said Asp. "My client has been ostracized in his community," he said.
He said he hasn't yet been able to reach his client to deliver the news, but that he has relayed it to the man's family members.
Serenity had been in living in a kinship placement with her relatives on a central Alberta reserve.
Full legal guardianship of Serenity and her two siblings had been awarded to her kinship caregivers one year before she was admitted to hospital in September 2014.
According to an investigation by Alberta's Child and Youth Advocate Del Graff, Serenity and her two older siblings had been left in the care of relatives despite complaints about abuse.
Medical records indicate she was suffering from catastrophic injuries, including a fractured skull and starvation. She was hypothermic. There has never been any indication Serenity's caregivers were responsible for her injuries.
She died on Sept. 27, 2014.
Serenity's caregivers said at the time she had fallen from a tire swing. But a forensic pediatrician determined her injuries were inconsistent with a fall.
A fatality inquiry has been ordered into her death once the criminal investigation has concluded.
Serenity was four years old when she died of severe head trauma in an Edmonton hospital. Some of her supporters rallied Saturday outside of the Alberta legislature. (Jordan Mesiatowsky/Radio-Canada)
Family and friends of a four-year-old girl who died in 2014 gathered at the Alberta Legislature Saturday, calling for something they've asked for repeatedly: justice.
A handful of protesters chanted "justice for Serenity," who died after suffering injuries while in kinship care.
Her death led to the creation of a panel looking into the province's child-intervention system.
The rally comes after an Alberta prosecutor stayed a criminal charge against Serenity's guardians on Tuesday.
Supporters are calling for justice for the little girl. (Jordan Mesiatowsky/Radio-Canada)
The Crown has one year to potentially reinstate the charge.
Heather Workman, a friend of Serenity's family, said the case highlights a systemic flaw.
"There's a responsibility for all of the systems to work in a healthy manner to protect children," Workman said. "Something within the system failed to do so."
Probably more than one something!
Bob Jones
More Than Justice
As of August 13, 2019 no one has been found responsible for this little’s girl’s death. No. One.
I feel responsible.
Serenity’s death is not someone else’s problem. The problem is, all too soon her story will be replaced in your memory by some other headline or trending story.
Serenity’s story is a call to action. Albertans must do everything we can to prevent tragedies like this one.
There is no justice for Serenity but you and I can do something.
Awareness, Prevention and Healing
1 in every 3 Canadian girls is sexually abused.
1 in every 6 Canadian boys is sexually abused.
75% of abuse that is reported is initiated by a family member.
Childhood trauma, mental illness, and addiction are linked. I’ve spent forty years of my life helping adults deal with addictions and mental illness. For too long I missed the childhood trauma piece.
I am devoted to preventing childhood sexual abuse and helping survivors of childhood traumas through the work of Little Warriors and the Be Brave Ranch. Sign up for free training on preventing child sexual abuse.
I’ve taken the course and will be taking it again.
And in the heartache of injustice, keep in mind all the foster families in Alberta who are doing a wonderful job loving and supporting the 10,000 boys and girls in our care.
I'm not sure where Glori Meldrum, Little Warriors, got their statistics from. I don't doubt them, although I suspect for most Canadian children the numbers are a little lower than that. But for indigenous children, I suspect they are much higher. Thanks, largely, to abuse in Residential Schools suffered by generations of first nations children. Even several decades since most of the schools were closed, that abuse and sexual abuse has, unfortunately, been passed on to new generations.
I believe a serious study will find a clear link between high levels of drug and alcohol abuse and teen suicides in remote First Nations villages, and generational child sexual abuse. And, I suspect that can be linked back to Residential Schools.
The laudable program of placing aboriginal children in care in family, or First Nations homes, may be putting them at higher risk of abuse, suffering, and death.
I ask all Albertans to refuse to let this child's suffering and death go for nothing. Please, pray for all children in care, they are at a higher danger rate for abuse, and please keep pressure on the government and various agencies involved to find out exactly why Serenity was silenced and make sure it doesn't happen again.
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