Phoenix Sinclair, 5, dead "whore"
Really fucked up case here. Cute pic in the link. Mothers, brace yourselves:
Manitoba girl, 5, suffered horrific abuse, trial hears
Mike McIntyre, Winnipeg Free Press
Published: Wednesday, November 12, 2008
WINNIPEG -
A five-year-old Manitoba girl was being deprived of food and forced to eat her own vomit in the days before she finally succumbed to a prolonged period of
abuse and neglect that included being repeatedly shot with a pellet gun and choked unconscious, a jury heard Wednesday.
"Some horrible things have happened to that little girl," a visibly distraught Cpl. Tara Clelland-Hall told little Phoenix Sinclair's mother, Samantha Kematch, near the end of a four-hour videotaped interview following her March 2006 arrest.
"It absolutely breaks my heart, the things that little girl went through in her short little life."
Kematch and her former common-law husband, Karl McKay, are on trial for first-degree murder for the June 2005 death of Phoenix on the Fisher River First Nation, about 200 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
The death wasn't discovered by police until McKay's teenage son told his mother about what happened - 10 months later.
The boy, now 18, took the witness stand Wednesday and pointed the finger of blame directly at McKay and Kematch, accusing them of countless violent and degrading acts.
He described how
Phoenix morphed from a "chubby" and happy child into a skinny child covered in cuts and bruises who would spend nearly every minute lying in her room without any food.
He wiped away tears as he told court how he tried offering a helping hand to his stepsister, who had been kept a virtual prisoner in her own home.
He described trying to feed a starving Phoenix some bread and water, only to be caught and threatened by Kematch.
"Samantha said what the f- are you giving my daughter food for?" he said.
"I'd feel sorry for her.
She would say 'I'm hungry.' "
He said
McKay repeatedly played a "game" with Phoenix he called "chicken," which involved picking her up by the throat, wrapping both hands around her neck and "choking her out."
"Then he'd throw her to the ground," said the teen, noting visible finger marks would be left on her neck.
"She'd make this weird scream. It was like someone had cut off her arm, like she was screaming to death."
McKay also liked to shoot Phoenix with a pellet gun, telling the girl to "run" and then shooting her repeatedly in the back and making her cry out in agony.
"He'd shoot her for the fun of it," he said, noting the abuse would leave pellet marks all over her back.
The teen said
Kematch would often hit Phoenix with a metal bar and stool, especially when she'd urinate or defecate in her pants after Kematch refused to let her go to the washroom. Sometimes McKay and
Kematch would throw Phoenix around, either to the ground or into furniture, he said. They also shaved the girl's head bald, court was told.
Kematch's lawyer, Roberta Campbell, suggested to the teen in cross-examination that it was McKay who was "most violent" with Phoenix. She also accused
McKay of calling Phoenix degrading names like "f-ing little baby" and "whore" while beating her.
"They were doing the same thing, equally," the teen replied.
"Isn't it true that sometimes he would hit Phoenix so much that she wouldn't even cry anymore?" asked Campbell.
"Yes," he answered.
McKay's lawyer, Mike Cook, suggested some of Phoenix's injuries could have been suffered during friendly "wrestling matches" his client was having with the little girl. McKay's son said he believed the physical abuse was intentional, not accidental.
Earlier in the day, the 10-woman, two-man jury watched the last portion of Kematch's video statement in which she blamed McKay for Phoenix's death, and said he refused to let her go to police to disclose what happened.
"I feel ashamed. I feel stupid. She didn't deserve anything like that. I think about it every day," she said. "I didn't want to see my kid like that. It hurt to see her like that. He wouldn't let me help her. He'd get mad at me."
However, Kematch admitted to beating Phoenix at times for no clear reason.
"I'd hit her because I'd get mad at her. I knew that wasn't right," she said. Kematch said much of the punishment came whenever Phoenix would urinate or defecate herself, which began happening often after she turned five.
Jurors heard how Phoenix spent her last hours naked, with an injury to her buttocks, lying on a cold basement floor. Kematch says
McKay pushed her daughter violently to the ground, causing the child to bang her head on the concrete the day before her death.
"We didn't do it purposely. It was just something that got out of hand," Kematch said.
The trial continues Thursday with McKay's youngest son expected to testify against him on behalf of the Crown.
Link
Why you'd call a five year-old a "whore" I'll never know, let alone treat your child like this. I mean Hell, I have Korean slave children, but at least I feed them! :lollypop: