Child told officer adoptive mom held head under water

Couple faces three assault charges in connection with boy and his two sisters

One of three orphans alleging to have been abused by their adoptive parents — their aunt and uncle — told police his “mom” would force his head under water.

The then-seven-year-old told child-abuse detective Grant Straub that both adoptive parents also forced him to take cold showers and his aunt would strike him with his uncle’s belt.

The comments were made in a videotaped statement given by the boy on April 6, 2011, less than three months after he and his elder sisters were seized by Child and Family Services.

The aunt and uncle — who can’t be named to protect the children’s identities — each face three charges of assault with a weapon in connection with incidents between Jan. 1, 2010, and Jan. 21, 2011.

The uncle also faces three charges of criminal negligence for not stopping his wife’s abuse, while she faces three additional charges of assault causing bodily harm.

Crown prosecutors Ken McCaffrey and William Tran want Justice Sandy Park to admit the boy’s videotaped statement into evidence in the Calgary couple’s Court of Queen’s Bench trial, a move opposed by defence lawyers Karen Molle and Kelsey Sitar.

In the statement, the boy explained that when he did something wrong, his adoptive parents would get angry and make him take cold showers.

If he turned on the warm water, his aunt would get even more angry, he said.

“What happens if you made it warmer?” Straub asked.

“Um, my mom gets super mad,” he replied.

Court heard videotaped statements from the sisters, including the eldest girl who alleged she had her tongue burned with a barbecue lighter.

“Sometimes my dad puts … very, very cold water.”

On three occasions, his aunt held his face under water in the bathroom sink, he said.

“She grabs my head,” the boy told Straub.

“And then put my head inside the … water.”

“Could you breathe?” the detective asked. “Um, no,” he replied. “Why couldn’t you breathe?” Straub asked.

“Because I,I, I don’t know how to breathe in water.”

The boy said sometimes he’d get worried when “I cannot hold my breath in the water anymore.”

The boy and his sisters were adopted by the couple in 2009.

The children survived a fiery crash in the fall of 2006, in which both their parents died.

Court earlier heard videotaped statements from the sisters, including the eldest girl who alleged she had her tongue burned with a barbecue lighter and was forced to drink her own vomit, claims that defence lawyer Molle said are exaggerated.

The trial is now adjourned to April 25, when Park will rule on whether the videotaped statements are admissible.