{"id":214112,"date":"2025-09-10T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/214112\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T00:00:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:00:19","slug":"miscarriage-of-justice-edmonton-police-object-to-manslaughter-plea-in-girls-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/214112\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Miscarriage of justice\u2019: Edmonton police object to manslaughter plea in girl\u2019s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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The Edmonton Police Service<\/a> said that, for the first time in its history, it has sent a letter to Alberta Justice<\/a> requesting a review of a decision by the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service<\/a> to accept a manslaughter plea \u201cfor the horrific murder of a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI 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,\u201d Hankewich wrote.<\/p>\n

Edmonton police said the file \u201crelates to the extreme child abuse and ultimate homicide\u201d of an Edmonton girl. The eight-year-old went missing in April 2023 before being found dead a few days later.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore charges laid in death of 8-year-old Edmonton girl whose body was found in Maskwacis\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWhat happened two years ago?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

When she was nowhere to be found, officers began investigating. There were \u201csuspicious circumstances,\u201d and EPS said the homicide section took over the case.<\/p>\n

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Her body was found a few days later on Samson Cree Nation<\/a>\u00a0in Maskwacis, which is located about a one-hour drive south of Edmonton.<\/p>\n

An autopsy found the girl died of blunt impact trauma<\/a>,\u00a0and the death was confirmed to be a homicide.<\/p>\n

Global News can\u2019t identify the child or family due to a publication ban to protect both the victim and other children related to her.<\/p>\n

Global News\u00a0spoke with a woman who called 911<\/a> after hearing a rumour that a child may have been seriously injured or was dead.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

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Even before the girl was found, police believed she may have been killed.<\/a> A 27-year-old woman was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and indignity to a dead body.<\/p>\n

Four other people were also charged with accessory to murder and indignity to a dead body.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMissing 8-year-old Edmonton girl believed to be dead, 1st-degree murder charges laid\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The woman\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\tEPS letter says lesser plea is a miscarriage of justice<\/p>\n

The Edmonton Police Service said its officers conducted an extensive investigation and obtained significant evidence, resulting in an almost 80-page summary by homicide detectives that depicted \u201csignificant child abuse and sufficient evidence to justify to our officers reasonable grounds to charge the accused with first-degree murder.\u201d<\/p>\n

But now, the Crown\u2019s handling of the case has prompted police to speak out.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo 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,\u201d Hankewich wrote, adding police said allowing that to go ahead would be a miscarriage of justice.<\/p>\n

The letter references the child abuse case of Baby M, a two-year-old who died of head trauma and starvation a decade ago.<\/p>\n

She and her twin sister were found in 2015 suffering from injuries and severe malnourishment \u2014 weighing just 13 and 16 pounds respectively\u00a0 \u2014 in their parents\u2019 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\u2019s brain. She died after being removed from life support.<\/p>\n

That was another case in which murder charges were laid, but a manslaughter plea was accepted<\/a>.\u00a0The Crown sought 23 to 25 years in prison but agreed to a 15-year sentence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Hankewich said the Baby M case illustrates the inappropriateness of the sentence being proposed now, saying it came at a time \u201cwhen we were less frequently aghast with prosecutorial decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMother of Baby M sentenced\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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