By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Inconsistencies the Focus of Collet Stephan’s Cross Examination

Apr 15, 2016 | 6:10 PM

LETHBRIDGE – It was another lengthy day in court on Friday, as the Crown conducted the cross examination of Collet Stephan.

She is co-accused with her husband David of failing to provide the necessities of life, for the March, 2012 death of their 18-month old son Ezekiel. He died as a result of bacterial meningitis.

Collet spent all day on the stand, addressing numerous inconsistencies between statements she made while her son was in hospital and in the testimony she provided Thursday in the trial.

Shortly after Ezekiel was admitted to the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, several doctors, an RCMP officer and two members of the Social Services Response Team (SSRT) conducted interviews with Collet and David.

A common matter that came up in several interviews, centred on a pair of tests Collet told them she found online to see if Ezekiel had meningitis. She told them that both tests indicated he did in fact have the disease. When delivering her testimony at trial however, Collet said she couldn’t remember doing the tests at all. She acknowledged that she might have, but said she had no memory and as a result could not comment on the results.

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Going over reports from doctors, in which they said Collet told them that Ezekiel had remained lethargic and was not eating much for a long period of time, she replied that it wasn’t true, and she didn’t know why they said that. She added that Ezekiel had shown a major improvement after having what they initially believed was croup. In the police interview, which was played in court, she attributed those statements to being tired and under a great deal of stress.

Lack of sleep and stress were brought up again, when asked why she would deliver incorrect information to the people trying to save her son, and the others examining whether or not they were fit parents.

The Crown then questioned Collet on testimony given by Terrie Meynders, her midwife, friend, and a registered nurse. Collet confirmed that she asked Meynders to come over and look at Ezekiel the day before he stopped breathing. Meynders told the court that after looking at Ezekiel she couldn’t see any major issues, but suggested meningitis as a possibility and recommended Collet take him to a doctor as a precaution. Collet flatly denied it, saying, “No she did not tell me that,” claiming that Meynders had contacted her after Ezekiel’s death, saying she was afraid she would be blamed, and concluded with the statement, “Her story had changed.”

The focus then shifted to Collet’s research into meningitis. She said that after looking at the symptoms, she believed viral meningitis was a possibility, and ruled out the far more serious bacterial form. When the Crown asked if she did further research into the potentially lethal disease that she thought her child might have, she responded, “I don’t recall.”

At that point the Crown proposed that Collet’s narrative changed to avoid damaging evidence against her, and after a long pause she broke into tears, and stated, “(Trauma) does cause memory lapses. I have these blanks that I cannot remember.”

The trial, which was originally scheduled to end last month, will continue Monday.