Mother seemed fine before child’s death, court hears

The day before she killed her 18-month-old daughter, Charlotte, Kaela Mehl was making plans to visit her former sister-in-law in Courtenay and sending texts about crafts, the new mayor’s plans for Topaz Park and new books she had bought for the baby, a B.C. Supreme Court jury heard Friday.

Crown witness Ashley Cunningham testified that Mehl seemed normal during their two phone calls on Sept. 15, 2015. Mehl even gave the phone to a squawking Charlotte for a while.

“It was a very normal conversation,” said Ashley Cunningham, as she took the stand at Mehl’s trial for first-degree murder.

When she learned the next day that Charlotte was dead, she was shocked, she testified.

Mehl, 34, has admitted killing the baby by feeding her sleeping pills mixed with yogurt, then smothering her.

The Crown is attempting to prove that Mehl intended to kill Charlotte and that the act was planned and deliberate.

Cunningham testified that Mehl was upset about her ongoing custody battle with her exhusband, Dan Cunningham, and the fight they’d had the day before.

She was also upset about how she had been treated when she moved her belongings out of her former home, which was owned by her in-laws.

Ashley Cunningham, who is married to the brother of Mehl’s ex-husband, testified that she and Mehl became friends. They shared interests and confidences and met at family gatherings on a regular basis.

She said the both began to resent the way their father-in-law, Brent Cunningham, influenced his sons and their decisions. Mehl said he was mean and rude, and made insulting comments about her body. She felt her husband was reluctant to stand up for her.

Their father-in-law told his sons to tell their wives what to do and told his sons not to tell their wives certain things, Cunningham testified.

“There was the comments and the controlling in general,” she said, agreeing with defence lawyer Kirk Karaszkiewicz that the control issues got between Mehl and her husband.

In April 2015, the two women wrote out a list of grievances and drew up guidelines on how they expected to be treated. The two wives also wanted an apology from the family.

“I felt, for Kaela [Mehl] and Dan, something had to be done,” Cunningham said.

The meeting, or intervention, did not go well, she said. Family members bickered and some cried. The wives did not get an immediate apology, but eventually accepted one about three weeks later.

Even after the apology, between May and September 2015, things did not improve, she said. Mehl never believed the apology was sincere.

Cunningham agreed that Mehl was overly concerned about her father-in-law being with Charlotte and that she had fears that were “probably not justified at the time.”

“Were those fears a sign of paranoia?” Karaszkiewicz asked.

“I would say more of an obsession than paranoia,” she replied.

During their last phone call, Mehl said she was going to visit her, Cunningham testified. At 8 p.m., Mehl sent a text saying she had got Charlotte some new books.