Custodial dad to be sentenced in death of 4-year-old son; boy had only lived with dad, girlfriend for only 5 weeks before he was murdered (Montreal, Canada)

As typically happens in the media, there is total silence on why this boy had spent the last 5 weeks of his life living with his brutal father and psycho girlfriend. Was it an extended visitation? Did Dad have full custody? Joint custody? What?

And what happened to the mother of this child? Alive, dead, disappeared? Was she battered by dad FRANCIS BASTIEN? Very often men who abuse the mother also abuse the children. Was Daddy's access court ordered? If so, by who?

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Long+sentence+sought+fatal+child+abuse+case/10172056/story.html

Long sentence sought in fatal child abuse case

By PAUL CHERRY, GAZETTE CRIME REPORTER

September 3, 2014

Long sentence sought in fatal child abuse case

A father who assaulted his 4-year-old son and ignored obvious signs his girlfriend was abusing the boy as well, until she killed him, should serve a long prison sentence to dissuade others, a prosecutor argued at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday.

Prosecutor Michel Pennou did not pull any punches while making his sentencing arguments in the case of Francis Bastien, 33, the father of Jeremy Bastien-Perron, a boy who died on Dec. 6, 2008, after suffering a severe blow to his head. The boy was under the care of Bastien’s girlfriend, Stéphanie Meunier, 35, when he died. She was convicted of first-degree murder, by a jury, in 2011. Bastien was taking part in a clinical study of medication when his son was killed and had not been home the previous six days. Jeremy’s body was found to be covered in injuries and while police tried to find answers to explain them all, Bastien admitted he struck his son on the buttocks several times with an open hand, a belt and a wooden spoon.

Pennou did not provide Quebec Court Judge Louis Legault with a length for the sentence he is seeking, but suggested a similar case in Nova Scotia, where a father was sentenced to a five-year prison term, should serve as a guide.

On March 18, Bastien pleaded guilty to criminal negligence, assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon, while a charge of manslaughter through criminal negligence was withdrawn. The case was brought against Bastien in 2010 after he contacted the Montreal police and revised a statement he gave them two years earlier and admitted he abused his son in the weeks before Jeremy died. When an autopsy was performed on the boy’s body, a pathologist noted that muscles in Jeremy’s buttocks were torn and had been damaged again while his body tried to heal itself. Pennou argued that if Bastien didn’t cause those severe injuries himself, he should have noticed his son was in pain and should have done more than accept the explanations Meunier offered him. Bastien told police he believed Meunier, a mother of four, when she said Jeremy suffered his injuries while roughhousing with her sons.

“There are animals without a cerebral cortex that still have the instinct to protect their young,” Pennou said at one point, with Bastien seated just five feet behind him. “The fact that he will never work for NASA shouldn’t diminish his criminal responsibility.”

Jeremy died shortly after an ambulance was called to the apartment in Rivière des Prairies where he had spent the previous five weeks living with his father and Meunier. She claimed he went unconscious after falling while playing in a nearby park. An ambulance technician and an emergency room doctor who declared the boy dead noticed dozens of cuts and bruises on his body and the police were alerted. An autopsy later revealed Jeremy had been struck at least 27 times before he died and likely spent the last day of his life in excruciating pain. His testicles were badly bruised and a large open wound across his stomach had gone untreated for at least a day before Meunier delivered the fatal blow to the boy’s head. Two witnesses who examined Jeremy testified it was the worst case of child abuse they had ever seen.

Bastien’s lawyer, Jihane Chikhi, will make her arguments at a later date.

Meunier has appealed the verdict and a panel of three Quebec Court of Appeal judges is deliberating over arguments made in December.