Murder-accused mom’s husband fails to have spousal support application tossed

The husband of a Victoria woman who is accused of murdering their toddler has lost a bid to have her application for spousal support thrown out of court.

In April 2016, Kaela Janine Mehl was arrested and charged with the September 2015 first-degree murder of the couple’s 18-month-old daughter, Charlotte. Mehl and her husband, Daniel Cunningham, who began living together in January 2010 and were married in November 2011, separated in May 2015, with Mehl and the little girl moving from the Victoria home where the family had been living.

In January, Mehl filed an application in B.C. Supreme Court seeking spousal support from Cunningham and an interest in the home on Hawkes Avenue. Cunningham responded by seeking an order to have Mehl’s claims dismissed before the trial in the family law case, which is scheduled for February 2018.

In an affidavit filed dated Jan. 31 and cited in the court ruling in the civil case, Cunningham claimed that his wife had taken an overdose of medication and had given the medication to their daughter, resulting in her death. The mom then remained in hospital for several months, according to the affidavit.

In the court ruling, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Peter Voith noted that Mehl did not “expressly” dispute the husband’s allegations and had accepted that she was hospitalized in “mental-health departments” for around six months after September 2015.

The accused, however, argued that her impending criminal trial, scheduled for September, inhibited her ability to lead evidence she might otherwise require on the issue of spousal support, noted the judge.

The judge also dismissed the husband’s application to throw out Mehl’s bid for an interest in the property.