David and Collet Stephan’s son Ezekiel had started getting sick, so the couple decided to treat him with natural remedies like garlic, onion and water mixed with maple syrup rather than seek professional medical advice.
Baby Ezekiel, (Picture: cbc.ca)
Their 19-month-old son stopped breathing a couple of weeks later from what was determined to be meningitis, it was only then the parents sought medical assistance according to CBC.
Unfortunately, as it would turn out, it was too late and the child later died in hospital in Calgary on March 13th, 2012 after being taken off life support according to the National Post.
Last April, a Canadian court convicted the parents of failing “to provide the necessaries of life” for their son, as reported by CBC.
Although the couple argued that they had a right to treat their children how they see fit, David was given four months in jail and Collet received three months house arrest, the Calgary Sun reported.
However, last week the father spoke out on Facebook saying that a Court of Appeals decision handed down last Wednesday upheld his guilty verdict from 2016 by 2-1 proves “there is no room for justice and truth.”
David and Collet (Picture:Facebook)
In the lengthy post, he alleges that there were various issues in this case. He says the prosecution “withheld and falsified evidence,” he claims there was “an elaborate cover-up of the ill-equipped ambulance and our son going for over 8 minutes without any oxygen therein,” and insisted that a 17 page letter to the Medical Examiner described him as “a political dissident and has no relevance to the medical examiner, other than for the likely influencing of the outcome of the autopsy report.”
Defense lawyer, Karen Molle claims the Stephan family were not given a fair trial, instead the court was given a “week-long barrage of inflammatory emotional evidence” according to the National Post. “The trial judge did not adequately exercise his gatekeeper function,” she said.
However, Justice Bruce McDonald explained the decision referring back to the original case in which the court heard a tape recording of Collet Stephan telling officers her son likely had meningitis. “If they were only to take the child to a doctor, this evidence supports the conclusion that they actively failed to do what a reasonably prudent and ordinary parent would do,” McDonald said.
Nevertheless, as the decision was split, it allows the Stephan family to appeal to the Supreme Court, but the prosecution is also appealing as they want a harsher punishment for the couple.
Despite being advised not to make any comments or statements on the case for fear of influencing the outcome of any further hearings, David wrote, “But this world needs more people that are willing to take a stand for truth… regardless of the cost.”
Family Portrait from 2015, (David Stephan Facebook)
Meanwhile, as a result of the verdict, David will miss the birth of his child saying “we are dismayed that I will no longer be able to be there to support my wife through the birthing process and meet the newest member of our family until I get out of jail.”
As a parting note David just hopes love and truth will prevail, “May God – the very author of Love – bless you all and may truth prevail!”
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