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Friday, Jun 09, 2006
Grandparents get life in prison, no parole for child's starvation
Five-year-old Jeffrey Baldwin was left to wither and die in a cold, fetid room. (Files) TORONTO (CP) - Two grandparents convicted of second-degree murder after they left five-year-old Jeffrey Baldwin to wither and die in a cold, fetid room were sentenced Friday to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 20 years.
Elva Bottineau, 54, was ordered to serve 22 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole, while husband Norman Kidman, 53, will get his first chance at early release after 20 years behind bars, said Superior Court Justice David Watt.
During his sentencing, Watt told the couple they would be allowed to apply to have their sentences reduced after just 15 years, although he had few other positive words for Bottineau in particular, whom he described as "morally bankrupt."
Her "self-perception . . . is at odds with reality," Watt said as Bottineau shook her head in apparent disagreement.
"She thirsts for control, but flees from responsibility."
Bottineau and Kidman were supposed to save little Jeffrey and his siblings from a life of abuse at the hands of their birth parents.
Instead, the pair used the children as a source of income, collecting government support cheques in their names while confining the young ones to a dank, cold room in their house.
Court was told Jeffrey was hidden away in the unheated bedroom for as long as 14 hours a day, breathing in the stench of his own urine and *****.
The room contained wet, uncarpeted floors, mattresses soaked through and littered with stains, and bags of filthy diapers throughout.
"The inhumanity revealed here has shocked the community," Watt said. "They must pay a very steep price."
Jeffrey, who weighed just 21 pounds when he died in November 2002, was treated like a dog: he ate out of a bowl with his fingers and often drank from a toilet when he was thirsty.
Jeffrey and his sister - who cannot be named - were locked up so frequently that regular visitors to the home often had no idea they even lived there.
Although the siblings lived in squalor, the rest of the house was normal, including the living quarters of other children living in the house, court was told.
Kidman and Bottineau were also convicted of forcible confinement in the case of the boy's sister.
Emergency crews were shocked when they found Jeffrey's tiny, frail bone-rack of a body, which was stunted and severely damaged from years of malnutrition. Doctors later said he had more bacteria growth on his skin than they had ever seen.
He died of starvation and pneumonia, weighing less than he did when he turned a year old.
When his sister was rescued from the house, she too showed obvious signs of starvation - skinny limbs, a distended belly and open sores.
Bottineau's lawyer, Anil Kapoor, had argued his client did not deliberately kill her grandson. He cited a psychologist who testified Bottineau was mentally handicapped with a personality disorder that prevented her from seeing Jeffrey waste away.
Other expert witnesses contradicted that assessment at trial.
The Ontario coroner's office has said it intends to hold an inquest into the boy's death, although a date has not yet been announced.
Grandparents get life in prison, no parole for child's starvation
Five-year-old Jeffrey Baldwin was left to wither and die in a cold, fetid room. (Files) TORONTO (CP) - Two grandparents convicted of second-degree murder after they left five-year-old Jeffrey Baldwin to wither and die in a cold, fetid room were sentenced Friday to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 20 years.
Elva Bottineau, 54, was ordered to serve 22 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole, while husband Norman Kidman, 53, will get his first chance at early release after 20 years behind bars, said Superior Court Justice David Watt.
During his sentencing, Watt told the couple they would be allowed to apply to have their sentences reduced after just 15 years, although he had few other positive words for Bottineau in particular, whom he described as "morally bankrupt."
Her "self-perception . . . is at odds with reality," Watt said as Bottineau shook her head in apparent disagreement.
"She thirsts for control, but flees from responsibility."
Bottineau and Kidman were supposed to save little Jeffrey and his siblings from a life of abuse at the hands of their birth parents.
Instead, the pair used the children as a source of income, collecting government support cheques in their names while confining the young ones to a dank, cold room in their house.
Court was told Jeffrey was hidden away in the unheated bedroom for as long as 14 hours a day, breathing in the stench of his own urine and *****.
The room contained wet, uncarpeted floors, mattresses soaked through and littered with stains, and bags of filthy diapers throughout.
"The inhumanity revealed here has shocked the community," Watt said. "They must pay a very steep price."
Jeffrey, who weighed just 21 pounds when he died in November 2002, was treated like a dog: he ate out of a bowl with his fingers and often drank from a toilet when he was thirsty.
Jeffrey and his sister - who cannot be named - were locked up so frequently that regular visitors to the home often had no idea they even lived there.
Although the siblings lived in squalor, the rest of the house was normal, including the living quarters of other children living in the house, court was told.
Kidman and Bottineau were also convicted of forcible confinement in the case of the boy's sister.
Emergency crews were shocked when they found Jeffrey's tiny, frail bone-rack of a body, which was stunted and severely damaged from years of malnutrition. Doctors later said he had more bacteria growth on his skin than they had ever seen.
He died of starvation and pneumonia, weighing less than he did when he turned a year old.
When his sister was rescued from the house, she too showed obvious signs of starvation - skinny limbs, a distended belly and open sores.
Bottineau's lawyer, Anil Kapoor, had argued his client did not deliberately kill her grandson. He cited a psychologist who testified Bottineau was mentally handicapped with a personality disorder that prevented her from seeing Jeffrey waste away.
Other expert witnesses contradicted that assessment at trial.
The Ontario coroner's office has said it intends to hold an inquest into the boy's death, although a date has not yet been announced.
