Man guilty of killing mom and daughter

Crown argued 5-year-old slain to keep her quiet

CALGARY • Family members clapped and one said “Thank you, God” as jurors returned with a guilty verdict in the murders of a mother and her five-year-old daughter less than three hours after they began deliberations.

The jury found Edward Downey guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of Sara Baillie and Taliyah Marsman in July 2016.

Downey, 48, had testified that he didn’t kill them, that he was in their Calgary home the day Baillie’s body was found because he was doing a drug deal with two other men.

The Crown’s theory was that Downey believed Baillie, who was 34, had influenced her best friend to break up with him and to decline to work as an escort.

The prosecution further argued that Baillie’s daughter was a witness who needed silencing.

Downey looked straight ahead as the verdict was read and showed no emotion.

First-degree murder carries a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. The Crown has indicated it will ask for consecutive sentences, meaning Downey would not be able to apply for parole for 50 years.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Beth Hughes had instructed the jury to make a decision on a “rational and fair consideration of all the evidence.”

The victims’ loved ones often wept as they heard graphic evidence during the trial and there were some emotional outbursts.

“Any comments from the public gallery are inappropriate and must be ignored. Your duty as jurors is to assess the evidence impartially,” Hughes said.

The trial heard Baillie was found dead in a laundry hamper in her daughter’s closet on the evening of July 11, 2016, with duct tape wrapped around her face, neck and wrists. Taliyah was gone.

The girl’s remains were found in some bushes east of the city three days later.

The trial heard both died by asphyxiation.

Downey repeatedly denied killing Baillie and her daughter. He testified that the day Baillie was found dead, he met two other men — one he called Terrance and a friend of Terrance’s — at Baillie’s place, but Downey had to get money from home.

Downey told court that before he left, the man identified as Terrance was arguing with Baillie and asked for tape. He said he ripped some off a roll the friend chucked over, not thinking much of the request.

Prosecutors told jurors Downey invented the two men and called Downey’s version of events “patently absurd.”

They said Baillie, dressed in her uniform for her waitress job, and her daughter were on their way out of their basement apartment when they were intercepted by an “unexpected and unwelcome” Downey.