Girl suffered blows to head, stomach, and severe burns to hand before death
A six-year-old Calgary girl was in the sole care of her biological father and stepmother when she received blunt force injuries to her head and abdomen, and severe burns to her hand and fingers prior to her death last November, homicide investigators revealed Wednesday.
The couple, who are not co-operating with the investigation, have now officially been named suspects in the homicide of Meika Dawn Jordan. And police say they are close to making an arrest.
“We look at who had exclusive opportunity in regards to child death investigations and we believe the biological father and the stepmother had exclusive opportunity at the time of these injuries,” said Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus with the Calgary Police Service’s homicide unit.
“They are suspects in this investigation and they have been since early in the investigation.”
Neither the biological father nor the stepmother are previously known to police.
On the evening of Nov. 13, 2011, officers were called to a home in the 6700 block of Temple Drive N.E. responding to reports of an injured six-year-old girl.
Meika died in hospital the next day. An autopsy later showed she died as a result of multiple blunt-force trauma and the death was declared a homicide.
The house where Meika was injured is home to her biological father and stepmother.
Police were initially told by family members that the girl had fallen down the stairs. But investigators say the blunt-force injuries she received to her head and abdomen are not consistent with such a fall.
Meika also had a severe third-degree burn that covered her hand and fingers prior to her death, Andrus said.
Acontroversial street preacher is fighting a new bylaw he says is banning him from offering Bibles and barbecues outside City Hall.
The new municipal complex bylaw, officials say, is a overdue update for public use of City Hall’s atrium and outdoor civic plaza. But the strict new rules are seemingly tailored to prevent the street pastor and Occupy Calgary from demonstrating on city property.
On Wednesday, bylaw officers were waiting when Art Pawlowski arrived around noon to hold his regular free barbecue for the homeless outside City Hall.
After getting a head’s up Sunday that his propane tank and curbside buffet are now considered safety violations, Pawlowski was undeterred. He strung his usual banners and flags on city property. However, he set up his lunchline across the street hoping to skirt the new rules.
It didn’t work. Within 90 minutes of flipping burgers to serve a steady stream of homeless, bylaw officials and police swept in.
Pawlowski said bylaw gave him just a warning. The police weren’t so willing to look the other way. They wrote him a $170 traffic ticket for breaking a loading law as the group was packing up supplies.
“We moved across the street to avoid the conflict with the city and we’re breaking the law. Then they told us we are breaking the law because we were on a public sidewalk. It’s just such an in-your-face situation,” Pawlowski said. “I was hoping to avoid conflict, but it doesn’t seem to matter what I do, they seem to find another stone and stick to hit.”
Pawlowski preaches while the homeless wait in line for hot food on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He said he is planning to show up Friday, despite the bylaw.
The revamped bylaw was long overdue, said Sharon Purvis, the city’s director of corporate properties and buildings, who noted it addresses safety and security considerations.
“It’s a whole new bylaw. The previous bylaw was quite outdated. Downtown is becoming a very different place. We as a city want it to be very vital. We want this block to be able to host many different kinds of activities. It didn’t enable that. We do want appropriate uses in a balanced way to come and use the plaza. It is the key municipal civic site,” she said. Fines range up to $10,000 or up to six months in jail.
The new rules aim to control the use of the civic plaza and entryways to “balance both its use as an office of municipal government and its use by the public,” Purvis said
The bylaw specifically takes aim at anyone demonstrating, camping, barbecuing food, using speakers or hoisting flags, placards or banners.
It forbids anyone from obstructing or blocking the entrance/exit zone, which has been extended, and sleeping or setting up tents.
Permits can be granted for an event in the atrium as long as it is not a religious or political demonstration during business hours.
Registered not-for-profit or charitable organizations, accredited school events, city sponsored or organized events are allowed.
Last December, Pawlowski was arrested and given a 30day “no trespassing” notice. A second offence garners a steeper penalty.
The city has spent upwards of $65,000 on a bylaw fight over Pawlowski’s use of loudspeakers in his outdoor preaching. He challenged the constitutionality of the city’s bylaws. Last year, a Court of Queen’s Bench judge ruled his religious freedoms weren’t being impeded, overturning a lower court’s decision.