Life shattered, grieving grandma tells court in shaken baby death
EDMONTON Raelyn Supernant’s family dreams of what her life could have been.
They imagine moments that will never happen: the baby’s first words, first steps and, later, first day of school, graduation, perhaps one day a wedding and children of her own.
Court heard an outpouring of heartbreak Friday from family and friends of the infant who died in hospital when she was two-anda-half months old, days after being shaken by her mother’s boyfriend, Brandon James Calahoo, who pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death in April.
According to an agreed statement of facts in the case, Calahoo, 22, was living with the baby and her mother in an Edmonton basement suite on July 25, 2016 when her crying woke him up. He picked her up, shook her, and then put her back in her crib where she remained for several hours before being taken to Stollery Children’s Hospital where she was treated for significant hemorrhaging in her brain.
Doctors tried for days to save Raelyn, but ultimately she died on Aug. 8, 2016 after being taken off life support.
“My heart literally fell on the Stollery ’s floor and shattered into a million pieces. It still lies there today and I don’t how to get it back,” Raelyn’s grandmother Robin Kuori said during a passionate and tearful victim impact statement she read in court Friday.
Kuori described the pain and shock of going from being a proud grandmother to the “perfect” content baby girl to spending days in hospital, holding Raelyn in her arms as the infant’s life slipped away. Kuori and other people who spoke called for “justice” and told court Calahoo had been welcomed into the family, but had “fooled” them when he promised to love Raelyn.
Kuori, who brought Raelyn to her own home nearly every weekend of her short life, said she’d taught Calahoo how to care for Raelyn and even warned him never toshakeaninfant.
Kuori addressed Calahoo directly, telling him he has lost his humanity.
“Raelyn was a little human being who did not deserve the fate that you, Brandon, chose for her. You did this Brandon,” she said.
Calahoo kept his head bowed, staring down as the victim impact statements were read.
Calahoo initially faced a charge of aggravated assault that was upgraded to second-degree murder following additional testing by a medical examiner completed several months later.
Edmonton police did not notify the public of the homicide until questioned about it following Calahoo’s guilty plea, citing the case’s “unusual circumstances” and long delay between the death and charges being laid.
Calahoo was scheduled to be sentenced Friday, but court heard that due to a concern with his Gladue report — which examines an Indigenous offender’s background — an independent lawyer has been engaged to review it. A forensic psychiatric report was also ordered to be prepared before court hears sentencing submissions.
Raelyn’s mother Carley Supernant said her daughter’s death has disrupted her life and broken her family.
The young woman said she is recovering from addiction issues that spiralled after her baby died, and that she still struggles with shame and self-blame.
“Why didn’t he do it to me? I could have taken it. Why did he have to hurt her?” she said as she read her victim impact statement tothecourt.
Speaking outside the courthouse after the hearing, Kuori said her goal is to honour her granddaughter by becoming an advocate for increased public education about shaken baby deaths. The grandmother also created a video she posted online sharing her family ’s story.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice June Ross thanked the family and friends for their courage in addressing the court. The judge will hear submissions on sentencing onSept.17.