Man given jail time for confinement of toddler

Content Warning: This story includes details that may be upsetting to readers.

As a two-year-old girl struggled against her restraints, Justin Noah Paul Anderson watched with a webcam. At times, he became enraged.

Kassie Burghardt was restless when she was supposed to be sleeping, so Anderson decided she should be taped up to restrict her movements. In May 2021, he'd relayed this plan to Kassie's mother, his then girlfriend Brittney Catherine Emma Burghardt, who expressed initial reservation but soon bought in. However, despite their efforts, which in addition to restraint included efforts at sensory deprivation and physical abuse, Kassie wouldn't behave in a manner deemed acceptable.

“I'm overheating now. My eyes are twitching about how pissed the f--k off I am right now,” Anderson wrote in a message to Burghardt, who told him the child had wet the bed in early June. The incident had made him so angry, he almost punched a wall. The child should be made to “sit in it.” If he was forced to come over, Kassie wouldn't like it, he wrote.

Court heard Burghardt threw the toddler repeatedly into a wall on June 9, 2021, causing bleeding to her brain and swelling that would not subside. Her death days later was attributed to blunt-force trauma. Police were told Anderson was not present when the incident occurred, but later called emergency medical responders after being notified by Burghardt that the child had fallen down stairs.

Messages exchanged between the couple recovered by police and read into the Regina Court of King 's Bench record Monday by Justice Keith Kilback, offered glimpses into the child's final weeks.

The judge imposed on Anderson a sentence of two years for unlawful confinement, to which he pleaded guilty in March. After receiving credit for time on remand, the 25-year-old is left with 663 days to serve. This follows the girl's mother receiving a combined eight years for manslaughter and her part in the confinement — a decision rendered Friday.

Burghardt had three children, one of which was Anderson's. Despite not being Kassie's biological parent, Anderson was a father figure to the toddler, the judge noted. However, he maintained a separate residence.

Despite his threats, and evidence showing he counselled Burghardt to strike the child, the convicted man has said he is “deeply sorry” for the events that led up to Kassie's death and that he had “no intention of harming” her. The girl was picking at her hands and face, causing them to bleed, he explained, as relayed by Kilback.

“He stated his only motivation in confining Kassie was to correct this behaviour and prevent her from harming herself,” the judge said.

Originally from Eston, Sask., Anderson is himself the product of a difficult upbringing, having lived much of his young life in the care of the government.

His conduct toward Kassie was simply misguided parenting, he had argued.

The judge said he accepted Anderson's explanation for his actions, which contrasted with the Crown's assertion that the confinement was the result of contempt. Nonetheless, Kilback found the man's moral culpability to be high.

“The need for denunciation in the circumstances of this case is such that incarceration is the only suitable way in which to express society's condemnation of Mr. Anderson's conduct,” Kilback said, effectively announcing his rejection of the community-based sentence sought by the convicted man.

However, before adjourning, the judge acknowledged that Anderson had been through “very difficult and tragic circumstances.”

“I just want to wish you the very best going forward.”

The judge then left the courtroom, where the jingling of a sheriff 's keys could be heard, followed by the sound made by handcuffs closing around Anderson's wrists, as he himself was restrained.