CANADA • Brice SMITH, 2 ½ months old (2010) ~ Sudbury ON

Baby Brice was born two months premature on November 20, 2009.
The post-mortem examination revealed a number of injuries, among them a fractured left wrist, significant retinal hemorrhaging of both eyes and two blows to the head.

Man who killed baby son 'stuck in grief'
June 6, 2011

Christopher Smith woke up after a night of hard drinking about 7 a.m. on Feb. 13, 2010, to care for his infant son, a Sudbury court heard Monday.

Within an hour, eight-pound baby Brice was admitted to Sudbury Regional Hospital with no vital signs, assistant Crown attorney Kenrick Abbott said.

Brice was resuscitated, but died four days later of head injuries at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.

Smith, 22, pleaded guilty in a Sudbury court on Monday to criminal negligence causing the death of Brice.

“Every day he replays in his mind what he … should have done to prevent this,” Smith’s lawyer, Bob Beckett, said. “He takes responsibility for his actions.”

Smith takes responsibility for causing the two serious head injuries that lead to the baby’s death.

“My client has to live with that every day,” Beckett said.

Beckett and Abbott were both suggesting a sentence of seven years in jail, minus credit on a two-for-one basis for time already served in jail. That would mean an additional sentence of four years and four months in a federal penitentiary.

Ontario Court Justice William Fitzgerald agreed with the sentence, stating it was “reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances.”

“This is a tragedy. The events are tragic. The results are tragic. What remains is tragic,” Fitzgerald said before sentencing Smith.

Smith apologized to the judge.

“I’m sorry about everything and that’s all I have to say,” he said.

Smith also wrote the judge a letter. Fitzgerald read a line from it, which stated Smith was “stuck in grief and filled with pain.”

An emotional Smith cried as Fitzgerald read from the letter.

Abbott read an agreed statement of facts about the baby’s death.

Brice was born two months premature on Nov. 20, 2009. On the night of Feb. 12, 2010, Brice was put to bed about 8 p.m. at his family’s residence in Chelmsford, Ont. Brice lived in the home with his father, mother, Angele Bertrand, and two half-brothers.

After the baby was put to sleep, Bertrand and Smith began drinking. Smith passed out about midnight; Bertrand fed Brice before going to bed herself about 1 a.m., Abbott said.

Smith got up about 7 a.m. with Brice and the two other children while Bertrand remained in bed.

Smith brought Brice back into the bedroom a short time later and called 911. By that time, the injuries had occurred and Brice was turning blue, Abbott said.

The post-mortem examination revealed a number of injuries, among them a fractured left wrist, significant retinal hemorrhaging of both eyes and two blows to the head.

“The injuries to the head required significant force. They could not have been caused by another child, do not typically occur during a fall and even individually were unlikely to stem from accidental injury,” Abbott said. “A significant degree of force was required to cause each injury individually.

"They are above and beyond injuries that could have been caused by normal handling of an infant or even rough handling.”

Beckett said his client admits to causing the head injuries, but does not agree that he caused the others. He said the post-mortem examination shows some injuries could have been caused at another time.

It’s not clear exactly how the head injuries were inflicted.

“We know that Christopher Smith did something significant resulting in those injuries; only he knows what happened,” Abbott said.

Beckett said his client “has never made a formal statement as to what happened.”

Smith, who was 21 at the time of Brice’s death, did not set out to harm the child, Beckett said. A combination of poor parenting skills and a lot of alcohol rendered Smith completely incapable of providing the child the care he needed, Beckett said.

Smith also pleaded guilty to a charge of breach of a bail condition. He was released on bail on April 8, 2010.

Among his bail conditions were to live at a specific address, abide by a curfew and have no contact with Bertrand. On April 12, 2010, Smith fled his residence with Bertrand, Abbott said.

They were arrested on April 14, 2010, after they were found in the parking lot of a New Sudbury theatre.

Bertrand was charged with aiding and abetting Smith in breaching his bail conditions. The following month, she was charged with breaching her own bail condition by not living at the Genevra House shelter as she had agreed.

Bertrand pleaded guilty in October 2010, and given a suspended sentence and 18 months probation.

Smith was sentenced on Monday to four years and four months in prison in addition to time already served. He is prohibited from having contact with Bertrand, ordered to provide a DNA sample to the national databank and prohibited from having weapons for 10 years.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/06/06/18246261.html