Foster child was left overnight in garage, jury hears

CBC News

A nanny who worked for an Edmonton foster mother accused of murder testified Thursday about what she saw in the days leading up to the death of a three year old boy in the woman's care.

The foster mother is charged with second-degree murder in the January 2007 death of the foster child.

Naming the foster mother and the child is prohibited under Alberta's Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act.

The 24-year-old live-in nanny, Julia Gee, worked for only a week at the house. She told the jury that the little boy would wet the bed, and that one night, the foster mother asked Gee for advice on what to do.

Gee suggested using a cool shower, and she soon heard the toddler screaming and crying while the water ran for 15 minutes.

The next thing she said she heard was the foster mother taking the boy out to the house's attached, unheated garage.

Gee told the jury she found the toddler the next morning in the garage. He was curled up in a ball on a mat, wearing only a urine-soaked pull-up diaper, with bruises covering his forehead, she testified.

The next night, Gee said, she heard screaming and thumping, and the boy was taken out to the garage again. The foster mother woke Gee up around two in the morning, telling her the child had collapsed.

The little boy never regained consciousness and died two days later in hospital. The jury has heard the boy died of head injuries so severe a neurosurgeon had to cut open the child's skull and cut away part of his brain because of the swelling.

In his cross-examination, defence lawyer Brian Beresh challenged Gee's testimony, suggesting the nanny made the whole story up.

Gee stuck to her story, but tearfully admitted to the jury she wished she had done more to help.

"I didn't do anything. I know that's wrong," she said.

The trial continued Friday in the Court of Queen's Bench in Edmonton.