COURTROOM FIREWORKS
Couple is in protective custody after receiving death threats, says lawyer
Raw emotions on both sides of the courtroom finally gave way when Tammy Goforth and her husband Kevin spoke. Their requests for forgiveness were met with anger and anguish.
“Sorry.” Tammy Goforth repeated that word at least 10 times as she stood sobbing in the prisoner’s dock Friday.
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. And I couldn’t imagine the pain that you’re going through as a mother,” she said.
After nearly three hours of legal arguments over how long Tammy and Kevin Goforth should spend behind bars, raw emotions on both sides of the courtroom finally gave way when the couple spoke.
Like her husband moments after her, Tammy asked for forgiveness — for the death of a four-year-old girl and for harming her two-yearold sister, both entrusted to the couple’s care as guardians. The girls can’t be named by court order.
The response, shouted across the room, was born of anger and anguish.
“You should have took them to the doctors; gave them back to Social Services,” interjected the girls’ mother, also in tears.
Despite a three-week long trial, the victims’ family still longs for any explanation for the inexplicable: How two young sisters — inseparable as playmates by some accounts — were starved, even bound by restraints at times, until the one child’s heart gave out. The arrival of the bruised, unresponsive, emaciated four-year-old in hospital in 2012 likely saved her sister. It prompted crisis workers to go find the equally frail two-year-old and bring her to hospital.
While she still bears the scars of her ordeal, the shy quiet girl lives with her father and loves Grade 1, court heard.
In victim impact statements, family members focused on a fouryear-old who never had a first day of school or a chance to marry or to have her own children. “I’ll never get to see my child grow up,” wrote her mother.
“I’m so sorry with all my heart,” Tammy told her. “I carry the burden every day. It will never leave me.”
A hard-working, stable, churchgoing couple married 23 years, the Goforths had no criminal history until Feb. 6 when a jury found Tammy, a 39-year-old stay-at-home mom, guilty of second-degree murder, Kevin, a 40-year-old carpenter, guilty of manslaughter and both guilty of causing bodily harm.
Newcomers to a prison hierarchy that puts child killers at the bottom, they have spent the last week in protective custody because of death threats.
On March 4, they’ll be reunited briefly in court when Justice Ellen Gunn imposes their sentences.
Reading from a prepared statement, Kevin said they loved the girls “very much” — eliciting cries of “liar” from the public gallery.
“God knows that … we couldn’t even dream or intend such a gross outcome,” he said, asking the family to dig deep and find forgiveness. “Never,” came the reply.
As has become routine with tensions running high, extra security was in the packed courtroom.
As the Goforths left court, their family shouted, “I love you.”
Her voice booming louder, a woman opposite yelled, “Rot in hell.”
By law, Tammy must serve life, but Gunn can set parole eligibility between 10 and 25 years.
Crown prosecutor Kim Jones called the crimes “unspeakable acts of cruelty,” “unfathomable,” “the worst imaginable,” and “a grievous breach of duty.”
Although a jury found Kevin guilty of a lesser offence, Jones also sought life for him — allowable but unprecedented in Saskatchewan. Gunn noted the appeal court, in a decision last year, said manslaughter sentences for a child death should typically range from four to 10 years in prison.
But Jones argued the facts are so egregious, they warrant a stronger penalty. He argued Tammy shouldn’t be eligible to seek parole for 18 to 20 years. If Kevin receives a life sentence for manslaughter, he’s automatically eligible to seek parole at seven years. Jones also asked for an eight-year concurrent prison term on the second charge.
The defence lawyers said they aren’t diminishing the crimes, but characterized them as “acts of omission,” a “failure to act,” or “closer to negligence” by first-time offenders.
Tammy’s lawyer Jeff Deagle argued she should be eligible to apply for parole after the minimum 10 years. He noted a life sentence is just that, and she will forever be on parole if not behind bars. He suggested three to five years concurrent for the bodily harm charge.
Kevin’s lawyer Noah Evanchuk called the Crown’s request for life unfair, especially since the jury convicted Kevin of manslaughter. “It is not murder,” he said, suggesting a range between 30 months and eight years.
During the trial, court heard Social Services apprehended the girls in 2010. After being shuffled between several foster homes, the children were placed with the Goforths on Nov. 8, 2011. Two months later, the couple became the girls’ legal guardians under a person of sufficient interest or PSI order.
They rushed the four-year-old to hospital, where she died Aug. 2, 2012 as a result of severe malnutrition and dehydration. Her sister was similarly described as “skin and bones.” Both girls had bruises consistent with being bound and, in the case of the older girl, gagged.
Evanchuk told court the Goforths had always been willing to accept responsibility and plead to manslaughter. But the Crown wanted them tried for murder.
“The mental and emotional pain will never stop,” wrote the girls’ biological father. “What does make me feel better is that this will never happen again to other children, that justice is served.”