Boy left to starve, trial told
Five- year-old in care of grandparents died in subhuman conditions, Crown says Forced to live in filth, Toronto child weighed less than he had at 1 year old
Little Jeffrey Baldwin was “ treated like a dog” and would have been better off living at the humane society than with his grandparents, a Crown prosecutor said on the first day of their murder trial.
Just weeks shy of his sixth birthday when he died in November 2002, Jeffrey was “ wasted and stunted,” weighing less than he had at 1 year old, Beverley Richards said in court yesterday. He had stopped growing after years of starvation and was only as tall as a typical 21⁄ year- old, she said, citing pediatric nutritionist Dr. Stanley Zlotkin of the Hospital for Sick Children. It was one of the most severe cases of malnutrition Zlotkin had seen in Canada or the developing world, Richards said.
Jeffrey’s grandparents — Elva Bottineau, 53, and Norman Kidman, 51 — pleaded not guilty yesterday to first- degree murder in his death, and unlawful confinement of one of their granddaughters.
Richards recounted how police and paramedics had been called to the couple’s two- storey semidetached house in the east end, where they discovered Jeffrey’s emaciated body wrapped in a towel on the kitchen countthighs er. He was rushed to the Hospital for Sick Children, but Richards said his grandparents didn’t ask to go with him.
Pediatric pathologist Dr. Gregory Wilson later reported that Jeffrey had no body fat, was only about 93.5 centimetres long ( 3.1 feet) and weighed 9.68 kilograms ( 21.3 pounds). Court also was also told the boy’s face was bruised, he had abrasions around his left eye and neck, and parts of his abdomen, inner and legs were encrusted with a dry, scaly rash. He also had ulcers on his genitals.
According to the pathologist, Jeffrey developed pneumonia a few days before his death. Fecal bacteria got into his bloodstream, causing septic shock that would have made it difficult to breathe. The court, with Justice David Watt of Ontario Superior Court