Dad with "lengthy" criminal record gets child visitation; murders girlfriend in front of 9-year-old son (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada)

Why the hell was a dad like KELLY DAVID MCKENZIE allowed child visitation?

This guy has a "lengthy history of drug and alcohol abuse and an equally lengthy criminal record," yet he's allowed to have "access visits" with his 9-year-old. So this poor child is forced to stay in a home with Daddy and Grandma.

Dad's girlfriend is there early one morning, too. She wakes the child, begging him to make his father stop hitting her. Dad drags the girlfriend out of the boy's bedroom, closes the bedroom door, and continues to beat her. At some point, the little boy hears somebody yell that she had fainted or that she was dead.

But nobody called 911 until 5 HOURS LATER. When paramedics arrived, it was clear that she had been dead for some time.

And the little boy? He was still alone in his room.

Does every little boy in this world really need visitation with his daddy? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/news/82198322.html

Nine-year-old boy witnessed father kill girlfriend

By Dan Ferguson - Surrey North Delta Leader

Published: January 20, 2010 2:00 PM
Updated: January 20, 2010 4:30 PM

The boy was sleeping in his bed when his father's girlfriend shook him awake and told him to make his dad stop hitting her.

It was five a.m. on Sept. 21, 2008, a Sunday.

The nine-year-old had spent the previous day on an access visit with his father and the girlfriend attending child-friendly events in Vancouver.
"Stop, stop," he told his dad.

But 36-year-old Kelly David McKenzie would hear none of it.

"No, she stole my money," he said and grabbed 24-year-old Melissa Chatham and dragged her out of his son's bedroom.

While the door was open, Kelly Jr. could see his father punch Chatham repeatedly in the face while she was lying on the floor.

Later, the boy would show police what he saw by kneeling and making quick repetitive downward motions with one arm to demonstrate how his father hit Chatham.

Then the dad closed the door to the boy's bedroom.

The nine-year-old could hear the beating continue.

Chatham was crying and screaming for help.

The boy heard her tell his father the money was in her car.

McKenzie said he wanted her to go with him to the car to get it because he didn't want her to call the cops.

"Give me my money," McKenzie said.

"Get up. Get up."

Then the boy heard other voices, possibly his grandmother who lived in the house with his father and himself, and possibly an uncle.

Someone said that Chatham had fainted and someone else said she was dead.

Emergency health service records show 911 was not called to the house near 103 Avenue and 140 Street until five hours later.

Paramedics arrived to find McKenzie performing CPR on his dead girlfriend.

When they checked they discovered that Chatham was "cold to the core," which meant she had been dead for some time.

Police found the boy alone in his room watching television.

When officers searched the father they found $2,900 in blood-soaked bills in his front pants pockets.

McKenzie, a Surrey resident, was originally charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Chatham, a North Delta resident, but he later pleaded guilty to the less-serious offence of manslaughter.

The two had been a couple for about three years.

McKenzie told police he was drinking heavily and taking pills and did not remember much of that night.

At his sentencing hearing, the court was told McKenzie has a lengthy history of drug and alcohol abuse and an equally lengthy criminal record.

A written transcript of the court hearing that disclosed the details of the case was released Wednesday,

It shows that on Dec. 18, 2009, B.C. Supreme Court Judge Terrence Schultes sentenced McKenzie to nine years in jail, then reduced that to six years and six months after deducting 30 months to give MCkenzie credit for the 15 months of so-called "dead time" spent in prison awaiting his trial.