CANADA • Jaylene SANDERSON-REDHEAD, 20 months old ~ Winnipeg MB

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Jaylene Sanderson-Redhead died June 29, 2009. ------------------------------Nicole Redhead
Doctors said they found signs she had suffered long-term abuse.

Woman who killed baby deserves 12 years: Crown

A woman who, as a child, witnessed her mother kill her father is now preparing to go to prison for killing her young daughter.

The chilling tale of multi-generational family violence is playing out in a Winnipeg courtroom, and is likely to raise more questions about Manitoba's child welfare system.

Nicole Redhead, now 29, had worked as a prostitute and was addicted to crack cocaine.

In 2009, she regained custody of her toddler from CFS as she entered an aboriginal women's shelter that offers parenting courses and other supports.

But she became violent with the young girl, and one night in June, she held her hand over the girl's mouth until she stopped breathing, court was told.

She then placed the child back in her crib and put a blanket over her. She did not tell anyone about what happened except her boyfriend — via telephone, because he was in jail. The boyfriend called the shelter and told them what happened.

'Gratuitous violence'

Autopsies would later reveal dozens of bruises on the girl's body and bites on her legs. Some bruises were old, some were still forming when she died.

It was "gratuitous violence", according to Crown attorney Colleen McDuff, who asked the court Monday for a 12-year sentence.

"There is a degree of anger, malevolence, that is difficult to explain," McDuff said.

Redhead pleaded guilty last year to manslaughter but has failed to show any remorse, McDuff said.

The woman addressed the court briefly Monday. She did not apologize for the death, but instead criticized the support services offered at the shelter.

"Every time I did ask the staff for help, there was no one there to help me," Redhead said in a soft voice.

Defence lawyer Steven Brennan said the woman is unable to show remorse because she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after a horrific childhood and a series of abusive adult relationships.

At the age of nine, she saw her mother kill her father, Brennan said.

"She remembers seeing a lot of blood," he told the court.

She was put into foster care and was sexually abused at age 11, he said. Later, she turned to prostitution to make money and became addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine. The trauma has left her unable to show emotion, Brennan said, even when she feels deeply remorseful.

"This is a horrible background. Simply horrific circumstances," he said.

Defence asks for six years

Brennan asked for a sentence of five to six years, minus double credit for the time she has spent in custody since her arrest.

Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of Court of Queen's Bench has reserved decision on her sentence until mid-April.

He frequently challenged the defence's assertion that the woman deserved sympathy, and pointed to evidence that showed the woman did not participate in support programs at the shelter.

"She suffered more than most human beings should ever have to contemplate ... but at a certain point, she was given advantages," Joyal said.

"She declined the very support offered to her."

Joyal also pointed to Child and Family Services' decision to give the woman back her child "at a time when she probably ought not to have had any child near her."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/03/21/man-cp-redhead-sentencing.html

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Nicole Redhead has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the murder of her daughter, Jaylene Sanderson-Redhead.

Mother who suffocated her toddler gets 12 years
April 20, 2011

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba woman who, as a child, witnessed her mother kill her father, was sentenced to 12 years behind bars Wednesday for suffocating her own daughter while they were staying a Winnipeg women's shelter.

Nicole Redhead had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 20-month-old Jaylene, who had been in the care of the province and returned to Redhead shortly before she was killed.

Those who loved the toddler say they are still haunted by her violent death and wonder why nothing was done to prevent it.

"God gave us these kids to look after, not to destroy them," said Jaylene's grandmother, Sky Sanderson, after sentencing. "Not to beat them to death, not to smother them to death. No, God gave these children to us to look after and to love and cherish them.

"How come nobody heard a little girl crying who could not speak and call for help?"

Court heard Redhead, 29, had her three children taken away by Child and Family Services but regained custody of Jaylene in 2009. She was in a woman's shelter that summer when she became violent with the crying two year old.

Redhead held her hand over her daughter's mouth until Jaylene stopped breathing and then put her back in her crib. She later talked to her boyfriend -- who was in jail -- over the phone and told him what had happened. He called the shelter but by the time they found the girl and started CPR, it was too late.

During the autopsy, medical examiners found 30 separate bruises over Jaylene's body, including some that had not yet risen to the surface. She had bruising suggesting she had been punched repeatedly in the stomach and adult bite marks on her thigh, court heard.

The case is just one of several that continue to raise questions about Manitoba's troubled child welfare system.

"She was supposed to be supervised," Sanderson said, weeping. "Why did nobody come forward? If I was there, I would have kicked the door open and done everything I could to get my granddaughter out of there. But nobody seemed to hear that little girl."

Jaylene's death followed the horrific case of Phoenix Sinclair -- a five-year-old who spent most of her life in foster care and was killed after being returned to her mother Samantha Kematch.

Phoenix's death went unnoticed for months. Kematch and her boyfriend, Karl McKay, were later convicted of first-degree murder. A provincial inquiry into her death has been called.

In another recent case, two-year-old Gage Guimond was removed from a foster home and given to his great-aunt, Shirley Guimond, despite the fact she had a criminal record. The boy was beaten and died after falling down stairs.

In Redhead's case, Chief Justice Glenn Joyal said the Jaylene's death was the culmination of "gruesome abuse."

"Having already caused the injuries that gave rise to what I was told reasonably would have been cries of pain by the deceased, the accused then placed her hand over the deceased's mouth for between 70 seconds and two minutes," Joyal said in his decision.

"One need only count to 70 and reflect upon what it was the accused was doing to a helpless 20-month-old child to realize the utter senselessness of such an act."

Joyal acknowledged Redhead's own "horrific family background," which included at the age of nine witnessing her father's murder at the hands of her mother in a "drunken rage." For two years after, Redhead bounced around five foster homes. She was abused as a preteen, eventually becoming addicted to crack cocaine and making a living as a prostitute.

"The accused has lived an indescribably difficult life," he said.

But Joyal said Redhead didn't take advantage of the support available to her in the women's shelter.

And although she pleaded guilty to the crime, Joyal said Redhead hasn't shown any remorse for this "pattern of brutalization" or the death of her daughter. Instead, he said she has blamed the shelter for its lack of support.

Defence lawyer Steven Brennan said they are considering an appeal.

The Crown had asked for a sentence of 12 years, while the defence had suggested a sentence of five to six years with double credit for time she has already served.

Redhead will serve eight years and eight months in jail after the judge agreed to give her double credit for the 20 months she has already spent behind bars.

Sanderson doesn't think that is enough.

"I lost what I love and I will never, ever bring her back," she said, crying. "She was a precious little girl. She was a darling little girl. She was everything to me."

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110420/winnipeg-mother-sentenced-110420/