Mom faces manslaughter charge in son’s death
Kane Driscoll, 4,was poisoned by a narcotic not prescribed to him, Hamilton detective says
HAMILTON
POLICE say the death of a four-year-old boy in September 2017 has been reclassified as a homicide and the child’s mother now faces a charge of manslaughter.
Kane Driscoll was poisoned by a prescription narcotic that was not prescribed to him, says Det. Sgt. Peter Thom of the major crime unit.
“There was no reason that child should have that narcotic ... had the fatal dose ... it should not have been in his system,” Thom said Friday.
He would not say how the boy came to consume the drug or whether police believe his death was accidental, adding that will be evidence in court.
Kane had faced a number of medical issues in his life but had overcome the worst before his death, Thom said. Police do not believe he was killed because of those medical issues or to end any suffering.
Kane’s mother, 39-year-old Lisa Strickland, was arrested in Newfoundland on Wednesday, a year after she and the boy’s father were told they were suspects. Thom said the father is still listed as a suspect and the case is ongoing.
While both parents initially spoke with police, that co-operation ended after police told them on Feb. 6, 2018, that their son’s death was a homicide and that they were suspects, he said.
Strickland made a brief court
appearance in Clarenville, N.L. Thursday on the manslaughter charge before her transfer to Ontario. She appeared in court in Hamilton and has been remanded into custody.
The charge of manslaughter means a homicide has taken place, but without the intent to kill. There is no minimum sentence for manslaughter, except when a firearm is involved, which has a four-year minimum.
A number of serious genetic medical issues required Kane to undergo multiple surgeries and spend months in hospital, Thom said. But he appeared to be past the worst of it and was expected to live a fairly normal life. He had just started junior kindergarten.
“We have a child who should be six years old now, going to school and living a normal life, whose life was cut short,” Thom said.
Police and paramedics were called to an east Mountain home near Fennell Avenue East and Upper Ottawa Street at 8:55 a.m. on Sept. 27, 2017, for an unresponsive child. But by the time first responders arrived, Kane was deceased.
His death initially did not appear suspicious, with no evidence of foul play and no anatomical cause of death after autopsy.
Police in Ontario have to investigate all sudden deaths of children under five, and in Hamilton, the major crime unit’s homicide detectives always take such cases.
Toxicology tests are mandatory and in this case, two months later, police received the report that Kane had been poisoned. On Dec. 17, 2017, investigators held a case conference where they deemed the four-year-old’s death a homicide.
However, police did not announce the homicide until Friday for “strategic and investigative purposes.” Thom said they were confident no one was in danger and thought it best to be “tightlipped” until now.
The case was “very medically based” and relied on specialists to interpret medical records and drug allocations, he said.
The lengthy investigation included 48 judicial authorizations, mostly to access medical records for the boy and his parents. These records were reviewed by medical professionals.
In October 2018, Strickland moved to Newfoundland. Kane’s dad remained in Ontario, but police believe they are still a couple.
She was arrested in Bonavista on Wednesday, after members of Hamilton police major crime unit travelled there with a warrant. They were helped by St. John’s RCMP major crime unit.
Strickland spent most of her life in Hamilton but has family in Newfoundland.
This past June, four months after she was notified that Kane’s death was a homicide and that she was a suspect, Strickland posted photos on a Facebook page of her son from a visit the previous August in Bonavista.
“He passed away a month later due to his horrible heart condition and other medical issues but this was (definitely) the happiest I had ever seen him outside of a hospital!” she wrote.
On her Facebook profile, she had posts and videos of her son, happily playing on a swing at a park, his artwork from junior kindergarten.
After news of her arrest, that profile was flooded with angry messages directed at Strickland.
The revelation of the four-yearold’s death now brings the total number of homicides in 2017 up to 11.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. Richard Wouters at 905-546-4921.
To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.