Accused in child’s death ‘intimidating’
An inquiry heard Wednesday that social workers were given a clear warning about Karl McKay’s propensity for violence years before he helped brutally beat a young Manitoba girl to death.
McKay already had a long history of assaults and domestic violence when he met with his probation officer in April 1999. It was a meeting that the officer said left her scared.
“I certainly felt that day that he was a very angry person and that my safety was at risk, and it wouldn’t be safe for one particular individual to meet with him (alone) in the future,” Miriam Browne testified.
“It was quite possible that he might become violent in the office. I felt physically intimidated by Mr. McKay. That was a very unusual circumstance, I will say.”
Two days after the meeting, Browne wrote to the social worker who was dealing with McKay’s then-common-law partner. She warned the worker of her serious concerns for the safety of McKay’s partner and their two children, who would be made permanent wards of the state the following year.
Despite that letter, and many other warnings about McKay, he would slip under the radar and into the life of Phoenix Sinclair in 2004 when he started a relationship with the girl’s mother, Samantha Kematch. The couple neglected and abused the girl, eventually beat her to death and buried her near a dump on the Fisher River reserve north of Winnipeg.
The inquiry is examining how child welfare failed to protect Phoenix, who spent most of her five years bouncing between foster care, her parents and the homes of family friends. Her death went undetected for nine months.
Phoenix was taken from her parents, Kematch and Steve Sinclair, days after her birth in April 2000. The couple had troubled, violent pasts and was unprepared to care for her, but social workers repeatedly worked toward reuniting the family.