Homicide investigators kept the 2015 death of a Burnaby infant from the public in part because her suspected killer – her father – was not deemed a threat to public safety.
The man’s seven-week-old daughter died on March 1, 2015.
His name cannot be published because of a ban on any information that could identify his daughter.
Almost a year after the baby girl’s death, on Oct. 28, 2016, the father was arrested at Lougheed Town Centre Station and charged with second-degree murder in the case, according to court documents.
His four-week trial wrapped up last month, and a judge is scheduled to deliver a verdict in the case in September.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, however, never made public the infant’s death or the investigation.
Investigators made that decision because the father had been identified as a potential suspect early in the investigation, according to IHIT, and the suspected killing was determined to be an isolated incident and there was no further risk to the public.
“As such, there was no cause to warn the public, nor a need to elicit public assistance to identify additional suspects or victims,” read an emailed statement from IHIT. “In absence of public safety considerations, we also did not wish to have (the man) labelled as a suspect in a child death at the time of his arrest before any court proceedings.”
The family had also “wished for privacy” at the time, according to IHIT, and investigators did not want to “further victimize” family members.
The case first became public last month, when a B.C. Supreme Court ruling about it was posted on the court’s website.
That ruling, by Justice Jeanne Watchuk found “inculpatory” statements the man gave while being held at the Burnaby detachment after his arrest were admissible in court, despite the fact he had been in alcohol withdrawal and had hallucinated in his cell.
Based on testimony from medical experts, Watchuk ruled the man had only been in mild-to-moderate alcohol withdrawal when he made the statements.
A transcript of conversations the man had with officers was released with the judge’s ruling.
After a little more than 25 hours in police custody, he was on a cigarette break with officers in the detachment garage when he said:
“Waste of a life, f–kin’ five seconds.”
“What do you mean, man?” asked an officer.
“What a waste of a life, for a decision that I made so quickly.”
“You just snapped? Is that what you mean by it happened so quickly?”
“Yeah.”
The infant had been in a baby swing, according to the transcript.
“She just cried, cried and cried and cried and cried,” the father said.
This story has been changed. It orginally stated the baby girl was seven months old. Court documents indicate she was seven weeks old.
