Parents of slain child haunted by his violent death
Mother and father testify at murder sentencing of man convicted in fatal beating of 2-year-old boy
Convicted child killer Michael Monckton stared blankly ahead as a prosecutor in Oshawa court said he should have to wait at least 15 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.
Monckton, 28, also didn’t flinch when the parents of Keagan Davis, 2 , told court of the nightmares they have suffered since their son’s violent death in 2010.
Monckton, a heavily muscled unemployed construction worker, was living with Keagan’s mother, Leigh-Ann Worrall, in late 2009 and early 2010, when the boy was beaten to death.
Paramedics found Keagan with no vital signs in their east Oshawa basement apartment on the morning of Jan. 5, 2010.
An autopsy found the boy’s injuries included severe abdominal trauma from repeated blows, internal bleeding, cracked vertebrae, broken ribs and fingers, and cuts to his scalp.
Ajury also found Monckton guilty in November of assault causing bodily harm, but acquitted him on a count of aggravated assault.
His second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with a minimum parole eligibility of 10 years.
Assistant Crown Attorney KerriAnn Kennedy told Superior Court Justice Alex Sosna that Monckton shouldn’t be considered for parole before 15 years in prison, noting that the killing was a massive violation of trust.
Defence lawyer Ray Boggs will tell court on Monday what he considers an appropriate time for Monckton to be eligible for parole.
In her victim impact statement, Keagan’s mother said she is haunted by the realization she trusted her child with Monckton.
“I can’t comprehend how a man who claimed to love Keagan could have beaten him to death,” Worrall said.
She said she often has nightmares in which she imagines her boy’s final moments. “I try hard to push these awful things from my head and think of the happy memories that I have with Keagan.”
She said it was particularly painful last September, when she thought of how Keagan would have been starting school. “When I see other parents with their children I am forced to remember that mine is not here,” she said.
The boy’s father, Dan Davis, said he is also haunted by nightmares of his child in pain.
In some of those dreams, Davis said, Keagan is screaming for help and he can’t get there in time to save him.