‘That’s not justice’: Family reacts to manslaughter plea in killing of 8-year-old girl

The Edmonton Police Service is publicly criticizing a decision by the Crown to accept a manslaughter plea in the death of an eight-year-old girl.

The family of an eight-year-old Indigenous girl who was killed in 2023 say they are devastated after a woman charged in her death pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

“What she did to my niece is beyond (what) no human being should ever have to go through,” said one of the girl’s aunts outside of an Edmonton courthouse Wednesday morning.

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Court heard that after drinking and doing meth in the bathroom while three other young children were in the home, the accused found the eight-year-old motionless on a bedroom floor with a swollen head wound in the early evening of April 22, 2023.

Rather than calling 911 or attempting to treat the girl, the woman asked her friends for advice on hiding the body.

CCTV footage showed the victim’s body being carried in a hockey bag out of the woman’s west Edmonton apartment.

Edmonton Police Service (EPS) officers began looking for the girl two days later in the area of 165 Street and 87 Avenue after they were called to conduct a welfare check. The girl could not be located and the homicide section was called to help investigate.

Police found her body in the bed of a pickup truck in Maskwacis on April 28, 2023. DNA testing was used to identify her remains.

A medical exam determined the girl had suffered chronic child abuse with bruises all over her body, a broken rib and hand. She also had sepsis from an untreated broken tooth.

The examiner said that if not for her other extensive injuries, she may have survived the head wound.

“My niece only lived on this Earth for eight years. That’s not fair. That’s not justice. She tortured her,” said the aunt. “We heard what happened to her and this is not a manslaughter charge.”

EPS originally charged the woman with first degree murder and indignity to a dead body, which would result in a life sentence with no chance for parole for 25 years.

The identities of the woman and young girl are protected under a publication ban, but the family is hoping to change that.

“We want to say her name. We want it out there, she deserves that at least,” said the aunt.

In a letter to the Crown, EPS urged prosecutors to reject a manslaughter plea deal, saying the degree of child abuse found during the investigation should warrant a heavier charge.

The family of the eight-year-old said the letter made them feel heard.

“Finally somebody is on our side. Somebody is hearing our voice.”

Megan Hankewich, assistant executive director of the EPS legal and regulatory services division, spoke with media Wednesday afternoon, saying the agency repeatedly spoke with the Crown on the file.

She said it was the first time EPS has publicly asked the government to intervene in the judicial process, and believes it could be a first in Canada.

“It was a step that was taken only after our officers repeatedly spoke to the Crown on this file, including when charges were first laid,” said Hankewich, who penned the letter sent to Goddard Monday. “This extraordinary step is also a culmination of close to a decade of consistent efforts by EPS to communicate serious ongoing justice system concerns.”

The letter said EPS was advised that the Crown had agreed to accept the manslaughter plea with an eight-year sentence.

On Wednesday, court heard the sentence in the plea is contested, meaning it could be for more than eight years.

“If the sentence was different, we would have considered our options differently,” said Hankewich, adding that she was not corrected about the sentence being eight years when she received a response to her letter.

EPS said it would release details of the investigation to the public if the plea were to go ahead.

But because the sentencing has yet to happen, Hankewich said they don’t want to prejudice the judge by releasing additional information.

“However, based on where we’re at right now, it is our intention to provide additional information to the public once that process has concluded,” said Hankewich.

The accused is to appear in court on Sept. 18 to set a sentencing hearing that will likely take place late this year or early next.

Two men pleaded guilty in June to indignity to a body in the eight-year-old’s death. They were sentenced to two years and nine months, but with credit for time served, they did not serve anymore time.

Another man was charged with accessory to murder and indignity to a body.