Stephan seeks experts to determine ‘real events’ behind son’s 2012 death
David Stephan has released a video statement as part of a fundraising campaign he says will allow his family to hire medical experts to “substantiate what the real events were” that led up to the death of his son Ezekiel.
Stephan and his wife, Collet Stephan, will face a retrial in the toddler’s death in June after the Supreme Court overturned their convictions last May. The couple had been found guilty in 2016 of failing to provide the necessaries of life to 19-month-old Ezekiel after he died of bacterial meningitis.
In a written statement from David Stephan on a fundraising campaign website, the father alleges that during the child’s treatment at a Lethbridge hospital and in an air ambulance to Calgary, Ezekiel was given multiple doses of a medication that was too much for his weight and condition.
“What we are currently seeking is enough funding to first acquire medical experts that would be able to substantiate what the real events were that led up to Ezekiel’s passing,” Stephan says. In a video posted on the fundraising page, which is seeking to raise $150,000, Stephan says supporters will help him and his wife delve into their case, in addition to similar cases.
Ezekiel died in 2012. The 2016 trial heard evidence the parents had treated the child with natural remedies instead of taking him to a doctor.
The Supreme Court ordered a new trial after defence lawyers argued contrary evidence from medical experts led to a misleading charge to the jury.