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Foster Father Acquitted in Tragic Child Death
12 Dec
Summary
- Foster father acquitted of all charges in the death of a 5-year-old boy.
- Boy suffocated after being left in a vehicle for over eight hours.
- Judge cited reasonable doubt in the foster father's criminal liability.
A foster father in Alberta has been acquitted of all charges related to the death of a five-year-old boy under his care. The charges included manslaughter, criminal negligence, and failure to provide necessaries of life. The court heard that the boy, who had considerable physical disabilities, was found deceased in the footwell of a vehicle on a rural property south of Edmonton.
The child had been left in the passenger seat of the vehicle for over eight hours. During this time, he slid off the seat and tragically suffocated, as he lacked the ability to reposition himself to breathe. The foster father testified that he had placed the boy in the car expecting his wife to take him to school, an assumption that proved fatal.
While the judge acknowledged the foster father's decision as a "regrettably wrong error in judgment with tragic consequences," he ultimately found reasonable doubt regarding criminal actions. The boy's death is still subject to a fatality inquiry, the date for which has not yet been scheduled.
