Judge convicts father of manslaughter in baby’s death

A Winnipeg man has been found guilty of manslaughter in the death of his baby son after a judge rejected his claim he found the child in his crib in unexplained medical distress.

Mathieu Moreau, 34, remains free on bail and will return to court for sentencing at a later date.

Moreau’s three-month-old son Maven was rushed to hospital with a traumatic brain injury on Jan. 11, 2020, and was taken off life support six days later.

“I do not accept Mr. Moreau’s testimony,” King’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond said Friday. “I find that Mr. Moreau inflicted some sort of assault on Maven. That assault may have included shaking Maven, hitting him, throwing him, or any combination of those acts.”

Court heard at trial the child’s mother, Evelyn Gillis, was out for dinner in Osborne Village when Moreau called her parents, then 911, to report their son was having trouble breathing in his crib in their Nassau Street apartment shortly after 9 p.m.

Moreau testified that he had gone for a nap, then heard Maven gurgling in his crib when he went to the washroom after waking up. He burped him after seeing infant formula come from his mouth and nose, he told court, before calling for help.

Prosecutors alleged Moreau was financially stressed, tired from working two jobs and upset that he had to return home to care for Maven when he “lost control” and assaulted Maven, causing the fatal head injury and shin fractures.

Bond said the medical evidence provided to court indicates Maven would have shown immediate signs of having suffered a brain injury, which Moreau testified he did not see when he arrived home to care for the child.

Moreau “acknowledged that Maven was not irritable and seemed fine, other than being sleepy,” Bond said. “I find that symptoms of a traumatic brain injury had not begun to develop when Mr. Moreau took over caring for Maven. The injury had not yet occurred.”

Defence lawyers Bruce Bonney and Kaitlynn Porath agreed Maven’s injuries were the result of an intentional act, but argued Gillis could have caused them.

Bond said she accepted Gillis’s testimony she had not injured Maven as “straightforward and believable.”

“There is no dispute that Ms. Gillis was a devoted and careful mother to Maven,” Bond said. “It must be acknowledged, of course, that a caring, attentive parent can experience a loss of control that leads to mistreating a child. However, I accept Ms. Gillis’s testimony that Maven was happy and healthy when she left him with Mr. Moreau.”

Moreau was acquitted of an additional count of assault relating to a mouth injury Maven suffered while in Moreau’s care a day before he was rushed to hospital.

“Although the expert evidence points to a strong likelihood the injury (was the result) of some form of assault, I find that I cannot be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the injury could not be caused by some sort of accidental impact,” Bond said. “While the circumstances are highly suspicious, I must consider other possible reasonable alternatives.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca