By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles

Trial Begins for Couple Charged in the Death of Their Child

Mar 7, 2016 | 11:18 AM

LETHBRIDGE: The opening day of the trial for David and Collet Stephan, featured a pair of police interviews.

The couple is accused of failing to provide the necessities of life, in connection with the 2012 death of their 19-month old son Ezekiel.

In the interviews, which were conducted at a Calgary hospital while Ezekiel was on life support, both acknowledged that he had become ill about two and a half weeks earlier, and they treated him with natural remedies and supplements. They stated that Ezekiel showed signs of progress several times during that span, but would go back to being lethargic and not eating. Collet told the interviewing officer that they had to hydrate Ezekiel with an eye dropper, and that he was making movements with his hand that he didn’t appear to be in control of, noting that it seemed “neurological”.

Collet eventually turned to her birth attendant who was also a registered nurse. After coming in and taking a look at Ezekiel, she told Collet that it appeared to be meningitis. With that information the couple purchased another supplement from a naturopathic clinic in Lethbridge, which they used for his treatment. She added that because of stiffness in Ezekiel’s neck and back on the trip into city, they had to lay him on a mattress in the back of the vehicle because he couldn’t go into his car-seat.

Later that day, and after returning home, Ezekiel stopped breathing and they called 911, but decided to drive him to hospital on their own when he started to breathe again. On the drive Ezekiel stopped breathing for a second time and they called 911, asking for an ambulance to meet them. When the ambulance arrived about 10-minutes later, Ezekiel had turned blue. He was airlifted to Calgary, where he died several days later.

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During the Crown’s opening statement, Crown Prosecutor Clayton Giles said the couple had a duty to their son to get him medical attention. He continued by saying they didn’t cause the meningitis that claimed the child’s life, but added, “What they did wrong was to not take Ezekiel to a hospital when they should have.”

The trial is scheduled to run until March 24.