Absolutely stomach wrenching to read about this poor little boy's life with his custodial dad, GARFIELD BOOTHE.
We have posted on this case many times over the years.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/ten-year-old-boy-chained-to-bed-struck-with-belt-murder-trial-hears/article17446981/
Ten-year-old boy chained to bed, struck with belt, murder trial hears
PAOLA LORIGGIO
BRAMPTON, ONT. — The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, Mar. 11 2014, 7:02 PM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, Mar. 11 2014, 7:14 PM EDT
A woman charged with murder in the death of her stepson told a court Tuesday she knew the 10-year-old was being beaten and kept chained by his father, but didn’t think he would die from the injuries.
Even after Nichelle Boothe-Rowe found Shakeil Boothe’s lifeless body in the family’s basement on May 26, 2011, she believed he had died from the cold that had dogged him for weeks, rather than the months of abuse he endured, she told the court.
Her husband beat his son with a looped belt “once or twice a week,” she testified, and once stomped on the boy’s chest in a fit of rage after Shakeil tore a page out of the Bible.
And in the months leading up to the boy’s death, Garfield Boothe had chained his son to his bed every morning before leaving for work, she said.
But though she had seen Shakeil with a black eye, cuts on his legs and wounds on his knuckles, Boothe-Rowe didn’t think the injuries were “serious or life-threatening,” she said.
She and Boothe are both charged with second-degree murder in Shakeil’s death.
Court has heard autopsy results showed widespread internal bleeding that overwhelmed Shakeil’s body, already weakened by malnutrition and severe infection.
On the stand Tuesday, Boothe-Rowe remembered calling for Shakeil to come up for breakfast that morning and getting no answer, then going downstairs to check on the child only to find him sprawled on the floor.
There was no blood on his body, but his feet were cold and blue-black and he had no pulse, she said.
She immediately called her husband at work and was told not to call 911 until he got home, she said, adding she never went back into the basement.
Boothe “wasn’t shocked” to find his firstborn dead, his wife testified.
He moved Shakeil’s body upstairs to the boy’s bedroom, where paramedics found him the next day.
He also told Boothe-Rowe they couldn’t call authorities until she moved out of the house, she said. The pair wasn’t supposed to live together under the conditions of Boothe’s probation, which included a no-contact order, she testified.
Since her stepson’s death, Boothe-Rowe said she has been plagued with regret that she didn’t do more to protect him. But she worried her husband – who she said had a history of domestic abuse – would turn his anger on her or their infant son if she intervened, she told the court.
“I had fear of it coming back to me,” said Boothe-Rowe, dressed in a black suit over a pink collared shirt.
Court heard she took photographs of Shakeil chained to his bed as proof the boy’s father was abusive. Boothe-Rowe said she meant to send the photos to the boy’s birth mother, who lives in the U.S., but never did.
She said Boothe would chain Shakeil to the boy’s bed “sporadically” in the fall, but just a few months later, it became a daily routine.
The stepmother said she tried to talk him out of it several times but it became easier to simply free Shakeil once his father was gone, using the keys she kept “in case of emergency.”
Boothe took great pains to keep the practice hidden, though his mother-in-law once saw the boy in chains, Boothe-Rowe said.
“When there would be visitors in the household, Garfield would unchain Shakeil,” she told the court.
The photos show a young person lying on the floor and chained by the ankle to a bed, while covered from the face to their knees by what looks like a blanket.
The pathologist who examined Shakeil’s body analyzed the photos in court and said the body shape and size, as well as injuries seen on the shins, were consistent with what he saw on Shakeil during the boy’s autopsy.
Boothe-Rowe admitted she once struck Shakeil with a looped belt, but said her husband insisted on disciplining the boy himself after she made it clear she wouldn’t hit him again.
She told the court she wanted to take Shakeil to the doctor in the days before he died, offering to have him tag along when she brought the baby for his eight-month checkup.
“He needed medical help” for his cold, she said, but her husband refused.
“I believe Garfield wasn’t taking Shakeil to the doctor because of what he had done to him and the injuries and stuff that he had,” she said.
Court has heard the couple’s relationship was tumultuous from the beginning. They met in Florida when Boothe-Rowe was 17 and it wasn’t long before the teen was sneaking out of her father’s home to meet up with him, she said.
Over the years, the couple broke up and reconciled repeatedly as Boothe became more violent, his wife said.
It didn’t take much to set him off, particularly when he was drinking or smoking marijuana, she said. A poorly cooked meal could trigger an argument that would quickly turn to blows, she said.
She recalled a 2004 incident in Florida in which Boothe held her and her sister “hostage” with a machete and pressed the blade against her neck. Though she eventually called police, no charges were laid because she believed Boothe had mental health issues, she said.
“Garfield was my first love, I didn’t know any relationship but Garfield,” she told the court.
Things didn’t improve once the couple moved to Canada in 2005, she said.
Boothe was constantly suspicious that she was cheating on him, and his fears only intensified when Boothe-Rowe went back to school a few years later, she said.
He would strip her down and “check” her to see if she’d “slept with anyone else” when she got home, Boothe-Rowe said.
Police were frequently called to the house by Boothe-Rowe herself or by the couple’s neighbours, but Boothe typically ran away, she said.
Boothe-Rowe said she stopped calling police after the baby was born because she feared for his safety.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query garfield boothe. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query garfield boothe. Sort by date Show all posts
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Trial coming to close for custodial dad accused of torture murder of 10-year-old son (Brampton, Ontario, Canada)
The murder trial of custodial dad GARFIELD BOOTHE is coming to a close this week. We have posted on this case numerous times.
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2014/03/26/murder_trial_hinges_on_which_parent_fatally_beat_abused_boy_says_lawyer.html
Murder trial hinges on which parent fatally beat abused boy, says lawyer
Lawyers for Shakeil Boothe's guardians — his father and his stepmother — each point fingers in Brampton court.
By: Paola Loriggio Freelance Health writer, Published on Wed Mar 26 2014
A 10-year-old Brampton boy’s father and stepmom are both to blame for the months of abuse and starvation he endured and were “equally capable” of delivering the brutal beating that ended his life, a defence lawyer told the couple’s murder trial Wednesday.
The case hinges on which one of them did batter Shakeil Boothe until the blood seeped out of his muscles and flooded his emaciated body, lawyer John Rosen told a Brampton court.
“He was dead on their watch — both of them,” said Rosen, who represents the father. But only one of them committed murder, he said.
Court has heard both Garfield Boothe and his wife Nichelle Boothe-Rowe, who are charged with second-degree murder, had possible motives for wanting the boy gone.
Shakeil came to Canada from Jamaica in 2009 in search of a better life, but quickly became an embarrassment for his father, a volatile and violent man who ruled his home with an iron fist, Boothe-Rowe’s lawyer Brian Ross argued.
Boothe-Rowe resented Shakeil — her husband’s child with another woman — and was fixated on becoming a mother herself, Rosen alleged. Her dislike of Shakeil only increased after the couple had a son of their own, he said.
Prosecutors allege Shakeil was deprived of food, chained to his bed and regularly whipped with a belt until he bled in the months leading up to his death. Court has heard autopsy results showed the boy suffered heavy blows that overwhelmed his body, already weakened by malnutrition and severe infection.
Both accused have testified to finding Shakeil’s lifeless body on May 26, 2011 — a full day before his death was reported to authorities — but they gave vastly different accounts of what happened that day and in the months before.
Garfield Boothe admitted on the stand he regularly struck his son with a belt for discipline, but denied allegations of long-term abuse and maintained he didn’t lay a hand on Shakeil the morning he died.
He said it was his wife’s idea to chain the boy to his bed during the day because she wasn’t able to control him when his father was out. And Boothe-Rowe was home with Shakeil the morning he was found dead, her husband said. “That day, that morning, he did not kill his child,” Rosen said. “What happened that day is that Nichelle Boothe-Rowe committed murder.”
Court has heard a children’s aid worker called the family’s Brampton, Ont., home that day and spoke to a male speaker, who identified himself as Daniel.
Rosen suggested it was Shakeil who picked up the phone, sending his stepmother into a fit of rage. Terrified that child services would take her baby away after seeing Shakeil’s condition, Boothe-Rowe “must have gone ballistic” and beaten the boy to death, he alleged.
She spent the next two and a half hours cleaning up the mess, planning her escape and plotting to pin it on her husband, who had already been convicted in a spousal abuse case, Rosen said.
When she finally called Boothe at work around 11:20 a.m., she pretended Shakeil had died from the cold he had been fighting for weeks, the lawyer alleged.
Boothe-Rowe, meanwhile, testified her husband woke the boy at dawn to give him cold medicine before leaving for work. Hours later, she found him cold and without vital signs on the basement floor, she said.
She told the court her husband had been chaining Shakeil to his bed for months, intermittently at first but then daily. She would secretly free the boy during the day, she said.
Aside from her husband’s testimony, there is no evidence Boothe-Rowe abused Shakeil, her lawyer said.
“You cannot find that Nichelle beat and chained Shakeil based on the testimony of this admitted liar,” Ross told the jury, listing off lies Boothe admitted telling police, school officials and his probation officer.
Fear for her own life kept Boothe-Rowe from intervening openly on Shakeil’s behalf, her lawyer said.
Boothe-Rowe admitted she didn’t do enough to help Shakeil Boothe, but she did not intend for the boy to die or suspect it could happen, which would be required for a murder conviction, Ross said.
“She didn’t want this to happen,” he said. “She wasn’t encouraging or helping him in any way to make it happen.”
There is no doubt Boothe-Rowe failed in her duty to protect Shakeil, but while her inaction may make her seem despicable, “we don’t convict people in Canada for being despicable,” he said.
Boothe-Rowe was under duress due to the abuse she herself suffered at the hands of her husband and should be acquitted of all charges, Ross said in his closing arguments.
“She believed that if she did anything that would get Garfield in trouble, she would end up dead.”
Prosecutors will present their closing arguments Thursday.
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2014/03/26/murder_trial_hinges_on_which_parent_fatally_beat_abused_boy_says_lawyer.html
Murder trial hinges on which parent fatally beat abused boy, says lawyer
Lawyers for Shakeil Boothe's guardians — his father and his stepmother — each point fingers in Brampton court.
By: Paola Loriggio Freelance Health writer, Published on Wed Mar 26 2014
A 10-year-old Brampton boy’s father and stepmom are both to blame for the months of abuse and starvation he endured and were “equally capable” of delivering the brutal beating that ended his life, a defence lawyer told the couple’s murder trial Wednesday.
The case hinges on which one of them did batter Shakeil Boothe until the blood seeped out of his muscles and flooded his emaciated body, lawyer John Rosen told a Brampton court.
“He was dead on their watch — both of them,” said Rosen, who represents the father. But only one of them committed murder, he said.
Court has heard both Garfield Boothe and his wife Nichelle Boothe-Rowe, who are charged with second-degree murder, had possible motives for wanting the boy gone.
Shakeil came to Canada from Jamaica in 2009 in search of a better life, but quickly became an embarrassment for his father, a volatile and violent man who ruled his home with an iron fist, Boothe-Rowe’s lawyer Brian Ross argued.
Boothe-Rowe resented Shakeil — her husband’s child with another woman — and was fixated on becoming a mother herself, Rosen alleged. Her dislike of Shakeil only increased after the couple had a son of their own, he said.
Prosecutors allege Shakeil was deprived of food, chained to his bed and regularly whipped with a belt until he bled in the months leading up to his death. Court has heard autopsy results showed the boy suffered heavy blows that overwhelmed his body, already weakened by malnutrition and severe infection.
Both accused have testified to finding Shakeil’s lifeless body on May 26, 2011 — a full day before his death was reported to authorities — but they gave vastly different accounts of what happened that day and in the months before.
Garfield Boothe admitted on the stand he regularly struck his son with a belt for discipline, but denied allegations of long-term abuse and maintained he didn’t lay a hand on Shakeil the morning he died.
He said it was his wife’s idea to chain the boy to his bed during the day because she wasn’t able to control him when his father was out. And Boothe-Rowe was home with Shakeil the morning he was found dead, her husband said. “That day, that morning, he did not kill his child,” Rosen said. “What happened that day is that Nichelle Boothe-Rowe committed murder.”
Court has heard a children’s aid worker called the family’s Brampton, Ont., home that day and spoke to a male speaker, who identified himself as Daniel.
Rosen suggested it was Shakeil who picked up the phone, sending his stepmother into a fit of rage. Terrified that child services would take her baby away after seeing Shakeil’s condition, Boothe-Rowe “must have gone ballistic” and beaten the boy to death, he alleged.
She spent the next two and a half hours cleaning up the mess, planning her escape and plotting to pin it on her husband, who had already been convicted in a spousal abuse case, Rosen said.
When she finally called Boothe at work around 11:20 a.m., she pretended Shakeil had died from the cold he had been fighting for weeks, the lawyer alleged.
Boothe-Rowe, meanwhile, testified her husband woke the boy at dawn to give him cold medicine before leaving for work. Hours later, she found him cold and without vital signs on the basement floor, she said.
She told the court her husband had been chaining Shakeil to his bed for months, intermittently at first but then daily. She would secretly free the boy during the day, she said.
Aside from her husband’s testimony, there is no evidence Boothe-Rowe abused Shakeil, her lawyer said.
“You cannot find that Nichelle beat and chained Shakeil based on the testimony of this admitted liar,” Ross told the jury, listing off lies Boothe admitted telling police, school officials and his probation officer.
Fear for her own life kept Boothe-Rowe from intervening openly on Shakeil’s behalf, her lawyer said.
Boothe-Rowe admitted she didn’t do enough to help Shakeil Boothe, but she did not intend for the boy to die or suspect it could happen, which would be required for a murder conviction, Ross said.
“She didn’t want this to happen,” he said. “She wasn’t encouraging or helping him in any way to make it happen.”
There is no doubt Boothe-Rowe failed in her duty to protect Shakeil, but while her inaction may make her seem despicable, “we don’t convict people in Canada for being despicable,” he said.
Boothe-Rowe was under duress due to the abuse she herself suffered at the hands of her husband and should be acquitted of all charges, Ross said in his closing arguments.
“She believed that if she did anything that would get Garfield in trouble, she would end up dead.”
Prosecutors will present their closing arguments Thursday.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Custodial dad, step get life in prison for torture-murder of 10-year-old son (Brampton, Ontario, Canada)
We've posted on custodial dad GARFIELD BOOTHE for several years now. He is beyond despicable. One of the saddest things I read about this case, was a report that this little boy dreamed of reuniting with his mother in the U.S. some day....
http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/father-and-stepmother-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-10-year-old-s-brutal-murder-1.1854213
Father and stepmother sentenced to life in prison for 10-year-old's brutal murder
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, June 5, 2014 8:07AM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, June 5, 2014 2:24PM EDT
BRAMPTON, Ont. -- The brutal beating that pushed a frail, sickly and badly injured 10-year-old boy to his death was delivered by his father, an Ontario Superior Court judge said Thursday in handing both the man and his wife life sentences.
The suffering that Shakeil Boothe endured in the months before his death is "almost unthinkable," Justice Fletcher Dawson said in presenting his ruling in a Brampton, Ont., court.
While both Garfield Boothe and Nichelle Boothe-Rowe betrayed Shakeil and contributed to his death, Boothe was "more involved" and admitted to regularly hitting his son, the judge said.
"I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Garfield Boothe perpetrated the final assault," Dawson said.
"Garfield was the primary disciplinarian. He has admitted to repeated and brutal whippings of Shakeil. ... Anyone who would repeatedly whip a 10-year-old boy with a belt to the point where blood was drawn and spattered about would certainly be inclined towards other forms of physical violence against the child."
Dawson said there is little evidence of Nichelle ever striking Shakeil, side from one incident in the fall of 2010. She was, however, "a partner in the abuse and neglect of Shakeil even though she did not commit the physical acts of assault that caused the injuries that led to Shakeil's death," he said.
Boothe-Rowe's lawyer Brian Ross said his client "continues to feel horrible for Shakeil's death." Her apparent remorse was a factor in determining her parole eligibility, Dawson said.
Boothe-Rowe has no chance of parole for 13 years. Boothe will be ineligible for parole for 18 years, though he can apply for a reduction after 15.
The pair was convicted of second-degree murder in April by a jury after 14 hours of deliberation. Both have been in custody since their arrest in May 2011 and that time will count toward their sentences.
Jurors had recommended a higher period of ineligibility for Boothe -- with some calling for up to 20 years -- than for Boothe-Rowe, which suggests they believe the father played a greater role in the killing, Dawson said.
"Shakeil was entitled to nurturing, love and support. Instead, he was brutally whipped, beaten, deprived of food and medical care and was chained to his bed like an animal," he said.
Shakeil -- who came from Jamaica to live with his father in 2009 -- was found dead in his bed on May 27, 2011, but evidence heard at trial suggests he died a day earlier.
Jurors were told he died "minutes to hours" after a savage beating that left him with a black eye, bruised head, re-fractured rib and internal bleeding. Autopsy photos showed old and new scars criss-crossing his skin.
The issue of who delivered that final beating was a sticking point at trial, with each of the accused pointing the finger at the other. Yet neither Boothe nor his wife testified they had witnessed the assault.
However, the pathologist who examined Shakeil's body found that while the attack triggered the boy's death, he was already in a downward spiral due to malnutrition and a severe infection that saw pus forming in his lungs.
It's unclear why the abuse began, Dawson said in his ruling.
"What I find remarkable here is that when Shakeil originally came to Canada, things started out more or less normally. It also appears that Garfield was genuinely concerned about Shakeil and the problems he was having at school," the judge said.
"For some reason which is difficult to discern, he began to severely abuse Shakeil to the point of torture. He was a 230-pound man. Shakeil was a 65-pound defenceless boy."
Without expert psychological evidence to explain what motivated Boothe, "it is difficult to see much prospect for rehabilitation," the judge said.
Shakeil's step-grandmother Claudette Boodth held back tears as she remembered the "smart boy" who wanted to be a scientist when he grew up.
"That was taken away from him, unfortunately," she said outside the courthouse after the sentencing.
"And if it's one message that I can send out there -- child abuse is everywhere, closer than you think. I am a nurse and when I suspected it, I tried. But unfortunately, it was too late," she said.
"If I had called the authorities earlier -- and this is the thing that has haunted me -- would it have made a difference?"
This little boy suffered alone, said Boodth, and for his legacy to live on, "we have to take this situation as an example and do not have it repeated."
The guilty verdict had carried a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole for 10 to 25 years, but the exact length of the parole prohibition was what was to be determined today. .
http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/father-and-stepmother-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-10-year-old-s-brutal-murder-1.1854213
Father and stepmother sentenced to life in prison for 10-year-old's brutal murder
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, June 5, 2014 8:07AM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, June 5, 2014 2:24PM EDT
BRAMPTON, Ont. -- The brutal beating that pushed a frail, sickly and badly injured 10-year-old boy to his death was delivered by his father, an Ontario Superior Court judge said Thursday in handing both the man and his wife life sentences.
The suffering that Shakeil Boothe endured in the months before his death is "almost unthinkable," Justice Fletcher Dawson said in presenting his ruling in a Brampton, Ont., court.
While both Garfield Boothe and Nichelle Boothe-Rowe betrayed Shakeil and contributed to his death, Boothe was "more involved" and admitted to regularly hitting his son, the judge said.
"I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Garfield Boothe perpetrated the final assault," Dawson said.
"Garfield was the primary disciplinarian. He has admitted to repeated and brutal whippings of Shakeil. ... Anyone who would repeatedly whip a 10-year-old boy with a belt to the point where blood was drawn and spattered about would certainly be inclined towards other forms of physical violence against the child."
Dawson said there is little evidence of Nichelle ever striking Shakeil, side from one incident in the fall of 2010. She was, however, "a partner in the abuse and neglect of Shakeil even though she did not commit the physical acts of assault that caused the injuries that led to Shakeil's death," he said.
Boothe-Rowe's lawyer Brian Ross said his client "continues to feel horrible for Shakeil's death." Her apparent remorse was a factor in determining her parole eligibility, Dawson said.
Boothe-Rowe has no chance of parole for 13 years. Boothe will be ineligible for parole for 18 years, though he can apply for a reduction after 15.
The pair was convicted of second-degree murder in April by a jury after 14 hours of deliberation. Both have been in custody since their arrest in May 2011 and that time will count toward their sentences.
Jurors had recommended a higher period of ineligibility for Boothe -- with some calling for up to 20 years -- than for Boothe-Rowe, which suggests they believe the father played a greater role in the killing, Dawson said.
"Shakeil was entitled to nurturing, love and support. Instead, he was brutally whipped, beaten, deprived of food and medical care and was chained to his bed like an animal," he said.
Shakeil -- who came from Jamaica to live with his father in 2009 -- was found dead in his bed on May 27, 2011, but evidence heard at trial suggests he died a day earlier.
Jurors were told he died "minutes to hours" after a savage beating that left him with a black eye, bruised head, re-fractured rib and internal bleeding. Autopsy photos showed old and new scars criss-crossing his skin.
The issue of who delivered that final beating was a sticking point at trial, with each of the accused pointing the finger at the other. Yet neither Boothe nor his wife testified they had witnessed the assault.
However, the pathologist who examined Shakeil's body found that while the attack triggered the boy's death, he was already in a downward spiral due to malnutrition and a severe infection that saw pus forming in his lungs.
It's unclear why the abuse began, Dawson said in his ruling.
"What I find remarkable here is that when Shakeil originally came to Canada, things started out more or less normally. It also appears that Garfield was genuinely concerned about Shakeil and the problems he was having at school," the judge said.
"For some reason which is difficult to discern, he began to severely abuse Shakeil to the point of torture. He was a 230-pound man. Shakeil was a 65-pound defenceless boy."
Without expert psychological evidence to explain what motivated Boothe, "it is difficult to see much prospect for rehabilitation," the judge said.
Shakeil's step-grandmother Claudette Boodth held back tears as she remembered the "smart boy" who wanted to be a scientist when he grew up.
"That was taken away from him, unfortunately," she said outside the courthouse after the sentencing.
"And if it's one message that I can send out there -- child abuse is everywhere, closer than you think. I am a nurse and when I suspected it, I tried. But unfortunately, it was too late," she said.
"If I had called the authorities earlier -- and this is the thing that has haunted me -- would it have made a difference?"
This little boy suffered alone, said Boodth, and for his legacy to live on, "we have to take this situation as an example and do not have it repeated."
The guilty verdict had carried a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole for 10 to 25 years, but the exact length of the parole prohibition was what was to be determined today. .
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Murdered boy had hoped to live with his non-custodial mother some day (Brampton, Ontario, Canada)
Thanks to the reporter for mentioning something of the murdered boy's mother. Apparently it was his wish that he could live with her someday. Too bad that wish can never be true:
Shakeil left his grandmother's care in Jamaica in 2009 to come live with his father "for better opportunities, for a better life," Slate said. His mother lived in the U.S. and hoped he would eventually join her there, she said.
Instead, he was dead within two years of his arrival.
Once again, the custodial dad was GARFIELD BOOTHE.
http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/news-story/4348561-boy-10-died-of-physical-abuse-crown/
Boy, 10, died of physical abuse: Crown
BRAMPTON, Ont. - A 10-year-old boy who came to live with his father and stepmother in search of a better life was kept chained to his bed, beaten and starved in the months leading up to his death, prosecutors alleged Monday on the first day of the couple's murder trial.
Autopsy results showed "injuries on top of injuries" and open wounds on Shakeil Boothe's emaciated body, as well as clear signs of infection in his lungs and blood stream, Crown lawyer Kelly Slate told a Toronto-area court. The boy's death was caused by a combination of blunt-force injuries, malnutrition, pneumonia and other infections, she said in her opening statement.
Shakeil's lifeless body was found on May 27, 2011, in the family's Brampton, Ont., home, court heard. The paramedics who first examined him testified Monday they believe he had been dead for some time.
The boy's father, Garfield Boothe, and stepmother, Nichelle Boothe-Rowe, are charged with second-degree murder.
Garfield Boothe was originally charged with failing to provide the necessities of life but that charge was later upgraded to second-degree murder.
Nichelle Boothe-Rowe was previously facing a manslaughter charge.
Shakeil left his grandmother's care in Jamaica in 2009 to come live with his father "for better opportunities, for a better life," Slate said. His mother lived in the U.S. and hoped he would eventually join her there, she said.
Instead, he was dead within two years of his arrival.
Slate said the boy was an "obviously sick, malnourished child with multiple observable injuries" at the time of his death. A recent violent incident "pushed an already downward declining child over the edge and he died," she said.
"Shakeil did not get to that state overnight."
Boothe and Boothe-Rowe "had an obligation to care for their 10-year-old son once he came to Canada," she said.
"Both did just the opposite of that," she said, adding the boy was "treated with abuse and neglect the last months of his life."
Things changed once the couple had a son of their own — an infant born in September of 2010, Slate argued.
Neighbours noticed Shakeil, previously viewed as a "happy but shy and quiet boy," wasn't seen playing outside or going to school, she said. They were told he was inside playing video games, she said.
And public health nurses who visited to help Boothe-Rowe with the baby "saw no sign of another child living in the house," Slate said.
It was only after Shakeil's death that Boothe-Rowe told a social worker that the 10-year-old had been pulled from school in January and had been abused, the Crown said.
Boothe-Rowe told Kathleen Williams the boy's father hit him with a belt and had once stomped on his chest because he had ripped a page out of the Bible, Slate said.
The stepmother also told Williams that since leaving school, Shakeil was chained to his bed every day and only freed to use the bathroom or shower or when relatives would visit, the lawyer alleged.
Slate warned the jury, however, that Boothe-Rowe's comments can only be used "for or against her."
The afternoon of May 27, Boothe phoned his father, saying he needed to speak to him in person, court heard.
Burke Boodh said his son complained of trouble with Shakeil, including that the boy had been stealing other children's lunches at school. Boodth said he asked to see his grandson and was taken upstairs.
In the boy's bedroom, "someone was lying on the bed with a sheet, he was covered from head to toe," Boodth testified.
Once the sheet was lifted, "I could see Shakeil's lifeless body," he said. "Something was coming out of his mouth."
"Something cold just ran down my body."
Boodth said he told his son to call 911, and after some hesitation, Boothe agreed to do it.
Paramedics testified Monday they found the boy lying in bed, frigid and stiff and foaming at the mouth, suggesting he had been dead for a while.
Kristy Eastwood told the court Shakeil met their standards for someone who is "obviously dead."
"Once categorized as obviously dead, resuscitation is deemed futile," she said.
Another paramedic, Michael Niffin, said he told Boothe "there was nothing to be done, that his son had been dead for some time."
Niffin said he and a Peel Region constable spoke to Boothe after breaking the news of Shakeil's death. Boothe told them his son had been sick with a cold for a few days, Niffin recalled.
The father said he had received a call at work that morning saying Shakeil was unresponsive, but when he returned home around 8:30 a.m., the boy appeared asleep, Niffin testified.
Boothe then slept until about 3:30 p.m., when he found Shakeil wasn't breathing, the paramedic said.
By Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
Shakeil left his grandmother's care in Jamaica in 2009 to come live with his father "for better opportunities, for a better life," Slate said. His mother lived in the U.S. and hoped he would eventually join her there, she said.
Instead, he was dead within two years of his arrival.
Once again, the custodial dad was GARFIELD BOOTHE.
http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/news-story/4348561-boy-10-died-of-physical-abuse-crown/
Boy, 10, died of physical abuse: Crown
BRAMPTON, Ont. - A 10-year-old boy who came to live with his father and stepmother in search of a better life was kept chained to his bed, beaten and starved in the months leading up to his death, prosecutors alleged Monday on the first day of the couple's murder trial.
Autopsy results showed "injuries on top of injuries" and open wounds on Shakeil Boothe's emaciated body, as well as clear signs of infection in his lungs and blood stream, Crown lawyer Kelly Slate told a Toronto-area court. The boy's death was caused by a combination of blunt-force injuries, malnutrition, pneumonia and other infections, she said in her opening statement.
Shakeil's lifeless body was found on May 27, 2011, in the family's Brampton, Ont., home, court heard. The paramedics who first examined him testified Monday they believe he had been dead for some time.
The boy's father, Garfield Boothe, and stepmother, Nichelle Boothe-Rowe, are charged with second-degree murder.
Garfield Boothe was originally charged with failing to provide the necessities of life but that charge was later upgraded to second-degree murder.
Nichelle Boothe-Rowe was previously facing a manslaughter charge.
Shakeil left his grandmother's care in Jamaica in 2009 to come live with his father "for better opportunities, for a better life," Slate said. His mother lived in the U.S. and hoped he would eventually join her there, she said.
Instead, he was dead within two years of his arrival.
Slate said the boy was an "obviously sick, malnourished child with multiple observable injuries" at the time of his death. A recent violent incident "pushed an already downward declining child over the edge and he died," she said.
"Shakeil did not get to that state overnight."
Boothe and Boothe-Rowe "had an obligation to care for their 10-year-old son once he came to Canada," she said.
"Both did just the opposite of that," she said, adding the boy was "treated with abuse and neglect the last months of his life."
Things changed once the couple had a son of their own — an infant born in September of 2010, Slate argued.
Neighbours noticed Shakeil, previously viewed as a "happy but shy and quiet boy," wasn't seen playing outside or going to school, she said. They were told he was inside playing video games, she said.
And public health nurses who visited to help Boothe-Rowe with the baby "saw no sign of another child living in the house," Slate said.
It was only after Shakeil's death that Boothe-Rowe told a social worker that the 10-year-old had been pulled from school in January and had been abused, the Crown said.
Boothe-Rowe told Kathleen Williams the boy's father hit him with a belt and had once stomped on his chest because he had ripped a page out of the Bible, Slate said.
The stepmother also told Williams that since leaving school, Shakeil was chained to his bed every day and only freed to use the bathroom or shower or when relatives would visit, the lawyer alleged.
Slate warned the jury, however, that Boothe-Rowe's comments can only be used "for or against her."
The afternoon of May 27, Boothe phoned his father, saying he needed to speak to him in person, court heard.
Burke Boodh said his son complained of trouble with Shakeil, including that the boy had been stealing other children's lunches at school. Boodth said he asked to see his grandson and was taken upstairs.
In the boy's bedroom, "someone was lying on the bed with a sheet, he was covered from head to toe," Boodth testified.
Once the sheet was lifted, "I could see Shakeil's lifeless body," he said. "Something was coming out of his mouth."
"Something cold just ran down my body."
Boodth said he told his son to call 911, and after some hesitation, Boothe agreed to do it.
Paramedics testified Monday they found the boy lying in bed, frigid and stiff and foaming at the mouth, suggesting he had been dead for a while.
Kristy Eastwood told the court Shakeil met their standards for someone who is "obviously dead."
"Once categorized as obviously dead, resuscitation is deemed futile," she said.
Another paramedic, Michael Niffin, said he told Boothe "there was nothing to be done, that his son had been dead for some time."
Niffin said he and a Peel Region constable spoke to Boothe after breaking the news of Shakeil's death. Boothe told them his son had been sick with a cold for a few days, Niffin recalled.
The father said he had received a call at work that morning saying Shakeil was unresponsive, but when he returned home around 8:30 a.m., the boy appeared asleep, Niffin testified.
Boothe then slept until about 3:30 p.m., when he found Shakeil wasn't breathing, the paramedic said.
By Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Custodial dad on trial for murder admits he beat, isolated 10-year-old son (Brampton, Ontario, Canada)
I've had about all I can stand of GARFIELD BOOTHE. Notice how possessive he was of his "fruit." This is very typical of the abusive father who gains custody--only to shut the mother out and murder the child.
http://www.ourwindsor.ca/news-story/4420318-father-admits-to-beating-isolating-shakeil-before-the-boy-s-death/
Father admits to beating, isolating Shakeil before the boy’s death
Brampton Guardian
By Pam Douglas
BRAMPTON— In the final day of a 6 ½ week trial, Garfield Boothe told a Brampton jury Wednesday that his wife beat and chained up his 10-year-old son, yet he called her a “one-in-a-million mom” in a jailhouse love letter he wrote less than a year ago.
Nichelle Boothe-Rowe is the “only woman I want to raise my fruit,” Boothe wrote in one of 15 cards and love letters sent to his wife and co-accused last year while she was in custody at the Vanier Centre for Women. She is also accused of killing the boy.
Boothe professed his love for her in passages read out in court Wednesday, as he was cross-examined in the witness stand, using his own words, and quoting words from songs.
Boothe and Boothe-Rowe are both on trial for second-degree murder in the death of Boothe’s son Shakeil, 10.
Their trial began Feb. 3 and in the 6 ½ weeks that followed, a jury of five women and seven men heard from 42 witnesses as dozens of photographs and exhibits were filed in the case.
Final submissions from the Crown, Boothe’s defence lawyer John Rosen, and Boothe-Rowe’s defence lawyer Brian Ross, will be made late next Wednesday. The case is expected to be in the hands of the jury by early in the week of March 31.
The boy died in his Homeland Court home on May 26, 2011 after weeks of abuse, including being chained by the ankle to the leg of his bed in the months before he died.
His father and step-mother are blaming each other for his death and have both testified in their own defence. Boothe has been on the witness stand for three days.
On Wednesday, Boothe admitted to Crown attorney Brian McGuire in cross-examination that he suspected Shakeil had pneumonia, an illness he knew could be fatal if left untreated, but he chose not to seek medical help for him.
Boothe told jurors that, despite knowing Shakeil was sick and getting sicker, he did not take him to a doctor for fear he would be jailed and/or deported when the marks and injuries all over the child’s body were discovered.
He said he also didn’t want the couple’s baby, Jayden, to be taken away by Children’s Aid Society.
“It was not just Shakeil I was thinking about at the time,” he testified. “I had to think about Nichelle and Jayden… I was thinking about my family at home.”
“Where did you show any concern for his (Shakeil’s) life?” McGuire demanded of Boothe.
“Shakeil was being treated for a cold… I was unaware of what was transpiring with Shakeil at the time would have cost him his life.”
He said he was treating Shakeil’s illness with Tylenol and Buckley’s, and was inquiring about getting antibiotics from Jamaica.
Boothe thought the Children’s Aid Society would have taken Shakeil and Jayden out of the house if they knew Shakeil was being chained up.
“That would have been the best thing that happened to Shakeil if he was taken away by the authorities,” McGuire said.
Boothe agreed.
McGuire pointed out Boothe “isolated” Shakeil by removing him from “anybody who could blow the whistle on you”.
“All of the institutions of Canadian society that might raise an alarm about the way you were treating your son. You isolated him from that,” McGuire said.
“Yes, correct,” Boothe answered, noting he kept him out of school, didn’t take him to a doctor, and lied to the Children’s Aid Society all so they would not discover the boy was being beaten and chained.
“You chose to protect yourself rather than his health,” McGuire accused.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Boothe responded.
Boothe admitted beating Shakeil with the boy’s own belt until he bled on several occasions. He said he would hit him on the shoulders, legs and feet, saying he was disciplining him.
“That’s how I was brought up,” he testified.
When asked by McGuire if Shakeil would scream out in pain when he was being beaten, Boothe responded, “Not on all occasions.”
“On some occasions?” McGuire asked. “He was screaming out in pain and agony?”
“Yes,” Boothe testified.
He said he never asked him if he was hurt or in pain.
Boothe told the court he did not notice Shakeil having difficulty moving or any indication the boy was in pain, even though the coroner has testified the youngster’s ribs were broken weeks before his death, and re-fractured in the beating he received in the minutes or hours before he died.
Boothe admitted the boy spent most of his time in his room and did not go outside to play.
He said he put Polysporin on the open sores on Shakeil’s body, and said the boy would pick at scabs and open up the wounds.
Boothe said the autopsy pictures of the open sores did not represent what they looked like when he inflicted the injuries.
“This was not the end result (of his beatings),” he said when asked about the pictures.
“You’re saying it was Shakeil’s fault?” McGuire asked.
“I’m not blaming Shakeil. I would never blame my son for anything,” he responded.
He testified he did not lay a hand on Shakeil in the three weeks before his death from a combination of a severe beating, pneumonia and malnourishment.
He also refuted his wife’s testimony that he stomped on Shakeil on Mother’s Day when the boy ripped a page out of a book.
“That did not happen,” he testified.
He also denied he stomped on Shakeil during that final beating.
“I had no reason to stomp on Shakeil’s chest,” he testified.
As McGuire showed him areas of the house where Shakeil’s blood was found spattered on the wall— the hallway, the boy’s room— he admitted he had beaten him in those areas, but said he couldn’t describe the incidents because he doesn’t store negative events on his “hard drive”.
“I can’t isolate no events in that house,” he told McGuire, denying the Crown’s assertion that he had beaten the boy so many times he “lost track”.
“I can’t say that, sir. Shakeil’s discipline has been spread out over a period of time,” Boothe responded.
http://www.ourwindsor.ca/news-story/4420318-father-admits-to-beating-isolating-shakeil-before-the-boy-s-death/
Father admits to beating, isolating Shakeil before the boy’s death
Brampton Guardian
By Pam Douglas
BRAMPTON— In the final day of a 6 ½ week trial, Garfield Boothe told a Brampton jury Wednesday that his wife beat and chained up his 10-year-old son, yet he called her a “one-in-a-million mom” in a jailhouse love letter he wrote less than a year ago.
Nichelle Boothe-Rowe is the “only woman I want to raise my fruit,” Boothe wrote in one of 15 cards and love letters sent to his wife and co-accused last year while she was in custody at the Vanier Centre for Women. She is also accused of killing the boy.
Boothe professed his love for her in passages read out in court Wednesday, as he was cross-examined in the witness stand, using his own words, and quoting words from songs.
Boothe and Boothe-Rowe are both on trial for second-degree murder in the death of Boothe’s son Shakeil, 10.
Their trial began Feb. 3 and in the 6 ½ weeks that followed, a jury of five women and seven men heard from 42 witnesses as dozens of photographs and exhibits were filed in the case.
Final submissions from the Crown, Boothe’s defence lawyer John Rosen, and Boothe-Rowe’s defence lawyer Brian Ross, will be made late next Wednesday. The case is expected to be in the hands of the jury by early in the week of March 31.
The boy died in his Homeland Court home on May 26, 2011 after weeks of abuse, including being chained by the ankle to the leg of his bed in the months before he died.
His father and step-mother are blaming each other for his death and have both testified in their own defence. Boothe has been on the witness stand for three days.
On Wednesday, Boothe admitted to Crown attorney Brian McGuire in cross-examination that he suspected Shakeil had pneumonia, an illness he knew could be fatal if left untreated, but he chose not to seek medical help for him.
Boothe told jurors that, despite knowing Shakeil was sick and getting sicker, he did not take him to a doctor for fear he would be jailed and/or deported when the marks and injuries all over the child’s body were discovered.
He said he also didn’t want the couple’s baby, Jayden, to be taken away by Children’s Aid Society.
“It was not just Shakeil I was thinking about at the time,” he testified. “I had to think about Nichelle and Jayden… I was thinking about my family at home.”
“Where did you show any concern for his (Shakeil’s) life?” McGuire demanded of Boothe.
“Shakeil was being treated for a cold… I was unaware of what was transpiring with Shakeil at the time would have cost him his life.”
He said he was treating Shakeil’s illness with Tylenol and Buckley’s, and was inquiring about getting antibiotics from Jamaica.
Boothe thought the Children’s Aid Society would have taken Shakeil and Jayden out of the house if they knew Shakeil was being chained up.
“That would have been the best thing that happened to Shakeil if he was taken away by the authorities,” McGuire said.
Boothe agreed.
McGuire pointed out Boothe “isolated” Shakeil by removing him from “anybody who could blow the whistle on you”.
“All of the institutions of Canadian society that might raise an alarm about the way you were treating your son. You isolated him from that,” McGuire said.
“Yes, correct,” Boothe answered, noting he kept him out of school, didn’t take him to a doctor, and lied to the Children’s Aid Society all so they would not discover the boy was being beaten and chained.
“You chose to protect yourself rather than his health,” McGuire accused.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Boothe responded.
Boothe admitted beating Shakeil with the boy’s own belt until he bled on several occasions. He said he would hit him on the shoulders, legs and feet, saying he was disciplining him.
“That’s how I was brought up,” he testified.
When asked by McGuire if Shakeil would scream out in pain when he was being beaten, Boothe responded, “Not on all occasions.”
“On some occasions?” McGuire asked. “He was screaming out in pain and agony?”
“Yes,” Boothe testified.
He said he never asked him if he was hurt or in pain.
Boothe told the court he did not notice Shakeil having difficulty moving or any indication the boy was in pain, even though the coroner has testified the youngster’s ribs were broken weeks before his death, and re-fractured in the beating he received in the minutes or hours before he died.
Boothe admitted the boy spent most of his time in his room and did not go outside to play.
He said he put Polysporin on the open sores on Shakeil’s body, and said the boy would pick at scabs and open up the wounds.
Boothe said the autopsy pictures of the open sores did not represent what they looked like when he inflicted the injuries.
“This was not the end result (of his beatings),” he said when asked about the pictures.
“You’re saying it was Shakeil’s fault?” McGuire asked.
“I’m not blaming Shakeil. I would never blame my son for anything,” he responded.
He testified he did not lay a hand on Shakeil in the three weeks before his death from a combination of a severe beating, pneumonia and malnourishment.
He also refuted his wife’s testimony that he stomped on Shakeil on Mother’s Day when the boy ripped a page out of a book.
“That did not happen,” he testified.
He also denied he stomped on Shakeil during that final beating.
“I had no reason to stomp on Shakeil’s chest,” he testified.
As McGuire showed him areas of the house where Shakeil’s blood was found spattered on the wall— the hallway, the boy’s room— he admitted he had beaten him in those areas, but said he couldn’t describe the incidents because he doesn’t store negative events on his “hard drive”.
“I can’t isolate no events in that house,” he told McGuire, denying the Crown’s assertion that he had beaten the boy so many times he “lost track”.
“I can’t say that, sir. Shakeil’s discipline has been spread out over a period of time,” Boothe responded.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Court: Custodial dad chained 10-year-old son to bed (Brampton, Ontario, Canada)
More on custodial dad GARFIELD BOOTHE. Also see the post directly below this one. At least this article is a little more honest in identifying the father as custodial, though the living mother is still ignored.
We have posted before on mothers living in developing/poor countries who lose custody of their children to fathers living in the U.S. and Canada. Often these mothers are hoping that their children will have a better life. It doesn't always pan out that way. It is sickening that these men do not respect the mother-child bond. If they were so interested in really helping the child, they would send money to help the mother with food, living, and school expenses. But that wouldn't give these guys the same sicko thrill as torturing the child, would it?
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/02/20140203-220047.html
Accused killer dad would chain son, 10, to bed, court told
10:00 pm, February 3rd, 2014
Accused killer dad would chain son, 10, to bed, court told
Trial begins for dad and step-mom of Shakeil Boothe, 10, found slain in his Brampton home in 2011
TERRY DAVIDSON | QMI AGENCY
BRAMPTON, ON -- A father charged with killing his 10-year-old son pulled the child from school and would chain him to a bed, a court heard Monday.
Crown attorney Kelly Slate told a jury that Garfield Boothe, 31, took his son, Shakeil, out of Hanover Public School in January 2011 and would "discipline Shakeil by hitting him with a belt and physically abusing him."
He also would chain Shakeil to his bed, freeing him only to use the washroom, shower and when family came to visit, Slate said in her opening address.
Boothe and his wife, Nichelle Boothe-Rowe -- Shakeil's stepmother -- have each pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder.
Emergency personnel were called May 27, 2011, to the family's Homeland Crt. home, where they found the lifeless boy.
Paramedics found Shakeil in his bed, cold to the touch and with white foam oozing from his mouth, court heard.
Slate said investigators later found traces of the child's blood in various parts of the home, as well as on his father's belt, and that the child had become malnourished.
Slate also alleged that Boothe, a native of Jamaica who had brought Shakeil to Canada from the Caribbean island in 2009, had at one point "stomped" on Shakeil's chest after the boy ripped a page out of a Bible.
"It is the prosecution's position that the evidence will show that Shakeil Boothe was removed from society and treated with abuse and neglect the last months of his life," Slate told the jury.
Slate alleged that "things changed with respect to Shakeil" when Boothe and Boothe-Rowe had a baby of their own in September 2010.
Peel paramedic Kristy Eastwood testified she was first on the scene after Boothe phoned 911 and had to tell the father his son was dead.
"(Boothe) said, 'OK.' He didn't really react at all... He seemed very calm," Eastwood told the court, adding that Shakeil had been dead for some time.
Peel Regional Police officer Andrew Gales testified Boothe broke down crying after being placed in a cruiser to be taken to a station to give a statement.
Slate said a Children's Aid worker had contacted the family's home the day before Shakeil was found after receiving an anonymous call.
The worker was told by a female at the Boothe home not to come over and that Shakeil's father would be in touch, the jury was told.
Boothe called the case worker back and said Shakeil was living with his mother in Oshawa, Ont., and that he would call again with the mother's contact info. Slate said Boothe never made that call to the case worker.
We have posted before on mothers living in developing/poor countries who lose custody of their children to fathers living in the U.S. and Canada. Often these mothers are hoping that their children will have a better life. It doesn't always pan out that way. It is sickening that these men do not respect the mother-child bond. If they were so interested in really helping the child, they would send money to help the mother with food, living, and school expenses. But that wouldn't give these guys the same sicko thrill as torturing the child, would it?
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/02/20140203-220047.html
Accused killer dad would chain son, 10, to bed, court told
10:00 pm, February 3rd, 2014
Accused killer dad would chain son, 10, to bed, court told
Trial begins for dad and step-mom of Shakeil Boothe, 10, found slain in his Brampton home in 2011
TERRY DAVIDSON | QMI AGENCY
BRAMPTON, ON -- A father charged with killing his 10-year-old son pulled the child from school and would chain him to a bed, a court heard Monday.
Crown attorney Kelly Slate told a jury that Garfield Boothe, 31, took his son, Shakeil, out of Hanover Public School in January 2011 and would "discipline Shakeil by hitting him with a belt and physically abusing him."
He also would chain Shakeil to his bed, freeing him only to use the washroom, shower and when family came to visit, Slate said in her opening address.
Boothe and his wife, Nichelle Boothe-Rowe -- Shakeil's stepmother -- have each pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder.
Emergency personnel were called May 27, 2011, to the family's Homeland Crt. home, where they found the lifeless boy.
Paramedics found Shakeil in his bed, cold to the touch and with white foam oozing from his mouth, court heard.
Slate said investigators later found traces of the child's blood in various parts of the home, as well as on his father's belt, and that the child had become malnourished.
Slate also alleged that Boothe, a native of Jamaica who had brought Shakeil to Canada from the Caribbean island in 2009, had at one point "stomped" on Shakeil's chest after the boy ripped a page out of a Bible.
"It is the prosecution's position that the evidence will show that Shakeil Boothe was removed from society and treated with abuse and neglect the last months of his life," Slate told the jury.
Slate alleged that "things changed with respect to Shakeil" when Boothe and Boothe-Rowe had a baby of their own in September 2010.
Peel paramedic Kristy Eastwood testified she was first on the scene after Boothe phoned 911 and had to tell the father his son was dead.
"(Boothe) said, 'OK.' He didn't really react at all... He seemed very calm," Eastwood told the court, adding that Shakeil had been dead for some time.
Peel Regional Police officer Andrew Gales testified Boothe broke down crying after being placed in a cruiser to be taken to a station to give a statement.
Slate said a Children's Aid worker had contacted the family's home the day before Shakeil was found after receiving an anonymous call.
The worker was told by a female at the Boothe home not to come over and that Shakeil's father would be in touch, the jury was told.
Boothe called the case worker back and said Shakeil was living with his mother in Oshawa, Ont., and that he would call again with the mother's contact info. Slate said Boothe never made that call to the case worker.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Custodial dad, step convicted in torture murder of 10-yearold son (Brampton, Ontario, Canada)
Custodial dad GARFIELD BOOTHE has finally been convicted of murder.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/1198381-ontario-couple-convicted-of-murder-in-child-abuse-death
Ontario couple convicted of murder in child abuse death
PAOLA LORIGGIO
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Published April 5, 2014 - 8:29pm
BRAMPTON, Ont. — Nearly three years after Shakeil Boothe’s frail and battered body was discovered in a suburban Toronto home, his father and stepmother were convicted of second-degree murder for killing the 10-year-old in a brutal beating that capped off months of horrific abuse and neglect.
Nichelle Boothe-Rowe wept in a Brampton, Ont., court after the jury handed down its verdict on Saturday following roughly 14 hours of deliberation. Garfield Boothe remained stoic.
Though they sat side-by-side in the prisoners’ box, the couple avoided looking at each other, just as they had during the two-month trial.
Defence lawyers said the couple was “disappointed” by the verdict, which carries a mandatory life sentence, but recognized it was a difficult case dealing with a heart-wrenching tragedy.
“It’s not like she was trying to hide or pretend she wasn’t responsible,” Boothe-Rowe’s lawyer Brian Ross said outside court, noting his client admitted she should have done more to protect her stepson.
None of Shakeil’s other relatives — including his mother, who lives the U.S. — were present for the verdict.
Jurors heard gruesome evidence of how Shakeil — who came from Jamaica to live with his father in 2009 — was regularly beaten, deprived of food and chained to his bed in the months before he was found dead in his bed on May 27, 2011.
They also viewed autopsy photos showing scars of varying ages criss-crossing Shakeil’s bony shoulders, back and legs, swelling in his hands and thighs and open wounds on his shins, some of which were yellowed with infection.
The boy was pulled from school and isolated from relatives and neighbours in order to hide his increasingly visible injuries, according to testimony. He was never taken to a doctor despite his worsening condition, for fear it would reveal the abuse he endured.
Court heard he died “minutes to hours” after a savage beating that left him with a black eye, bruised his head in several places and re-fractured a previously cracked but healing rib.
The attack caused widespread internal bleeding and overwhelmed his weakened body, precipitating what the pathologist called the boy’s “downward spiral” toward death.
Shakeil’s father and stepmother admitted they kept his death quiet for a full day before calling authorities as they planned Boothe-Rowe’s escape to the U.S. with the boy’s infant half-brother.
Both worried the baby would be taken by children’s services, and that Boothe — whose probation order in a domestic abuse case barred him from contacting his wife — would be sent back to jail, they said.
Boothe-Rowe returned to Canada days later after her husband’s arrest and was herself arrested at the border.
Both accused testified during trial, pointing the finger at each other through their lawyers as they described a marriage and family marred by violence and lies.
Boothe-Rowe described years of abuse at the hands of her husband, who she said ruled his home with an iron fist. She told the court she tried to stop her husband from hitting Shakeil on occasion but didn’t push it further because she feared for her life and that of her own child.
Boothe denied any allegations of long-term abuse but admitted marital disputes often involved “pushing and shoving” and that he did physically discipline his son.
His lawyer John Rosen contended it was Boothe-Rowe who resented the boy — her husband’s child with another woman — and had to take care of him during the day while his father was at work.
Defence lawyers argued only the person who committed the final assault should be convicted of murder, with the other possibly found guilty of manslaughter.
Ross urged the jury to fully acquit his client, who he claimed had no other choice than to go along with her husband out of fear he that he might beat her.
But prosecutors contended was the cumulative effect of the abuse and the attack that killed the boy and both should be held equally responsible.
“It was the accumulation of evidence about how (Shakeil) was abused and confined and ultimately assaulted when he died that I think weighed heavily on the jury and was the underlying basis for the reason they found them both responsible for the intentional killing of their son,” Crown lawyer Brian McGuire said outside court.
The trial began on Feb. 3 and heard from dozens of witnesses, including paramedics, police officers, relatives and the pathologist who examined Shakeil’s body.
The couple’s sentence comes with no possibility of parole for 10 to 25 years. The exact length of the parole prohibition is expected to be determined next month.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/1198381-ontario-couple-convicted-of-murder-in-child-abuse-death
Ontario couple convicted of murder in child abuse death
PAOLA LORIGGIO
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Published April 5, 2014 - 8:29pm
BRAMPTON, Ont. — Nearly three years after Shakeil Boothe’s frail and battered body was discovered in a suburban Toronto home, his father and stepmother were convicted of second-degree murder for killing the 10-year-old in a brutal beating that capped off months of horrific abuse and neglect.
Nichelle Boothe-Rowe wept in a Brampton, Ont., court after the jury handed down its verdict on Saturday following roughly 14 hours of deliberation. Garfield Boothe remained stoic.
Though they sat side-by-side in the prisoners’ box, the couple avoided looking at each other, just as they had during the two-month trial.
Defence lawyers said the couple was “disappointed” by the verdict, which carries a mandatory life sentence, but recognized it was a difficult case dealing with a heart-wrenching tragedy.
“It’s not like she was trying to hide or pretend she wasn’t responsible,” Boothe-Rowe’s lawyer Brian Ross said outside court, noting his client admitted she should have done more to protect her stepson.
None of Shakeil’s other relatives — including his mother, who lives the U.S. — were present for the verdict.
Jurors heard gruesome evidence of how Shakeil — who came from Jamaica to live with his father in 2009 — was regularly beaten, deprived of food and chained to his bed in the months before he was found dead in his bed on May 27, 2011.
They also viewed autopsy photos showing scars of varying ages criss-crossing Shakeil’s bony shoulders, back and legs, swelling in his hands and thighs and open wounds on his shins, some of which were yellowed with infection.
The boy was pulled from school and isolated from relatives and neighbours in order to hide his increasingly visible injuries, according to testimony. He was never taken to a doctor despite his worsening condition, for fear it would reveal the abuse he endured.
Court heard he died “minutes to hours” after a savage beating that left him with a black eye, bruised his head in several places and re-fractured a previously cracked but healing rib.
The attack caused widespread internal bleeding and overwhelmed his weakened body, precipitating what the pathologist called the boy’s “downward spiral” toward death.
Shakeil’s father and stepmother admitted they kept his death quiet for a full day before calling authorities as they planned Boothe-Rowe’s escape to the U.S. with the boy’s infant half-brother.
Both worried the baby would be taken by children’s services, and that Boothe — whose probation order in a domestic abuse case barred him from contacting his wife — would be sent back to jail, they said.
Boothe-Rowe returned to Canada days later after her husband’s arrest and was herself arrested at the border.
Both accused testified during trial, pointing the finger at each other through their lawyers as they described a marriage and family marred by violence and lies.
Boothe-Rowe described years of abuse at the hands of her husband, who she said ruled his home with an iron fist. She told the court she tried to stop her husband from hitting Shakeil on occasion but didn’t push it further because she feared for her life and that of her own child.
Boothe denied any allegations of long-term abuse but admitted marital disputes often involved “pushing and shoving” and that he did physically discipline his son.
His lawyer John Rosen contended it was Boothe-Rowe who resented the boy — her husband’s child with another woman — and had to take care of him during the day while his father was at work.
Defence lawyers argued only the person who committed the final assault should be convicted of murder, with the other possibly found guilty of manslaughter.
Ross urged the jury to fully acquit his client, who he claimed had no other choice than to go along with her husband out of fear he that he might beat her.
But prosecutors contended was the cumulative effect of the abuse and the attack that killed the boy and both should be held equally responsible.
“It was the accumulation of evidence about how (Shakeil) was abused and confined and ultimately assaulted when he died that I think weighed heavily on the jury and was the underlying basis for the reason they found them both responsible for the intentional killing of their son,” Crown lawyer Brian McGuire said outside court.
The trial began on Feb. 3 and heard from dozens of witnesses, including paramedics, police officers, relatives and the pathologist who examined Shakeil’s body.
The couple’s sentence comes with no possibility of parole for 10 to 25 years. The exact length of the parole prohibition is expected to be determined next month.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Step: Custodial dad wanted to dump body of dead 10-year-old son (Brampton, Ontario, Canada)
More from the murder trial of custodial dad GARFIELD BOOTH. The murdered boy's mother lived in the United States. Daddy and the step sure sound like worthless crap.
http://www.surreyleader.com/national/249730931.html
Father wanted to dump boy's body: stepmom
by Canadian Press - BC Local News
posted Mar 12, 2014 at 12:04 PM— updated Mar 12, 2014 at 1:48 PM
By Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
BRAMPTON, Ont. - After finding his son dead at home, the man now charged with murder in the boy's death wanted to dump the 10-year-old's body and leave the country rather than face authorities, his wife and co-accused testified Wednesday.
In her second day of testimony, Nichelle Boothe-Rowe told a Toronto-area court that she asked her husband to "do the right thing" because Shakeil Boothe deserved a proper burial.
"Garfield was insisting on leaving Shakeil's body in the house or to dump it" before fleeing to his native Jamaica or the U.S., where he also has relatives, she said.
He also encouraged her to hide out with family members in Pennsylvania, since the couple wasn't supposed to be living together under the conditions of Boothe's probation, his wife said.
At the time, Boothe-Rowe believed her stepson had died from a bad cold and reassured her husband that he hadn't done anything to deliberately kill the child, she said.
Boothe-Rowe told the court that when she found Shakeil's lifeless body in the family's basement on May 26, 2011 she didn't know that he had been beaten shortly before his death.
She said Boothe told her not to call 911 and later moved the boy's body to his bedroom, where paramedics found him the next day, cold and foaming at the mouth.
Both are both charged with second-degree murder.
Court has heard autopsy results showed widespread internal bleeding overwhelmed Shakeil's frail body, already weakened by malnutrition and severe infection.
The pathologist who examined Shakeil's body said the boy had sustained heavy blows minutes to hours before his death.
Previous testimony showed the couple arranged to transfer Boothe-Rowe's belongings and the baby's things to a storage locker on May 26. A taxi driver testified he dropped Boothe-Rowe and the baby at the Toronto bus terminal that night.
Boothe-Rowe and the baby took a bus to Buffalo, NY, where her sister waited to drive them to Pennsylvania, she said.
In that time, the couple was in near-constant communication by text message and BBM, court heard.
Phone records presented at trial show Boothe-Rowe first messaged her husband around 1 a.m. to let him know she had crossed the border. But the messages soon turned to Shakeil's death and how the pair would handle it.
"Pray n make the rite decision u didn't do anything intentional u tried b strong n call ur dad 4 support he was still ur child n u owe him that much," Boothe-Rowe wrote her husband around 7:45 a.m. on May 27.
A flurry of messages followed over the next few minutes, with Boothe-Rowe urging her husband to call 911 and do something by noon or she would. "I just just dnt want u and (the baby) to get involve," Boothe wrote around 7:50 a.m., immediately followed by: "Cause ur right I didn't do any ting wrong intentionally."
In another message, Boothe told his wife he would "make sure u have nuttin to do with this."
"I don't as a matter of fact," she replied. "But I cud have made you help him more. I so miss him I wish it didn't go like this."
Boothe-Rowe deleted all the messages on her phone before returning to Canada on May 30, knowing they would prove she had known Shakeil was dead, she said. She was arrested at the border.
The stepmother said she knew authorities would be looking for her, even though she "didn't have anything to do with Shakeil's death."
Court has heard she knew he was being beaten, had seen Boothe strike him with a belt and, once, stomp on his chest.
Twice she noticed cuts on the boy's legs, but never saw the extent of his injuries since he always wore jeans and long-sleeved shirts, she said. His father was in charge of shower time, she said.
She admitted to lying to police officers and, later, withholding information from children's aid because she was "still protecting Garfield."
She described living in fear of the only man with whom she'd had a relationship, wanting to leave him but fearing he would hurt her or his sons.
"If I should ever leave the house, he'll hunt me down... He also said that if I leave the house, I wouldn't be leaving alive," she testified.
"Why didn't you just call police to get help?" her lawyer Brian Ross asked.
"I was controlled by Garfield, I had fear and I was just paralyzed by fear," she replied.
Boothe-Rowe said she only fully realized what was happening to her while taking a course on domestic abuse during her incarceration.
http://www.surreyleader.com/national/249730931.html
Father wanted to dump boy's body: stepmom
by Canadian Press - BC Local News
posted Mar 12, 2014 at 12:04 PM— updated Mar 12, 2014 at 1:48 PM
By Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
BRAMPTON, Ont. - After finding his son dead at home, the man now charged with murder in the boy's death wanted to dump the 10-year-old's body and leave the country rather than face authorities, his wife and co-accused testified Wednesday.
In her second day of testimony, Nichelle Boothe-Rowe told a Toronto-area court that she asked her husband to "do the right thing" because Shakeil Boothe deserved a proper burial.
"Garfield was insisting on leaving Shakeil's body in the house or to dump it" before fleeing to his native Jamaica or the U.S., where he also has relatives, she said.
He also encouraged her to hide out with family members in Pennsylvania, since the couple wasn't supposed to be living together under the conditions of Boothe's probation, his wife said.
At the time, Boothe-Rowe believed her stepson had died from a bad cold and reassured her husband that he hadn't done anything to deliberately kill the child, she said.
Boothe-Rowe told the court that when she found Shakeil's lifeless body in the family's basement on May 26, 2011 she didn't know that he had been beaten shortly before his death.
She said Boothe told her not to call 911 and later moved the boy's body to his bedroom, where paramedics found him the next day, cold and foaming at the mouth.
Both are both charged with second-degree murder.
Court has heard autopsy results showed widespread internal bleeding overwhelmed Shakeil's frail body, already weakened by malnutrition and severe infection.
The pathologist who examined Shakeil's body said the boy had sustained heavy blows minutes to hours before his death.
Previous testimony showed the couple arranged to transfer Boothe-Rowe's belongings and the baby's things to a storage locker on May 26. A taxi driver testified he dropped Boothe-Rowe and the baby at the Toronto bus terminal that night.
Boothe-Rowe and the baby took a bus to Buffalo, NY, where her sister waited to drive them to Pennsylvania, she said.
In that time, the couple was in near-constant communication by text message and BBM, court heard.
Phone records presented at trial show Boothe-Rowe first messaged her husband around 1 a.m. to let him know she had crossed the border. But the messages soon turned to Shakeil's death and how the pair would handle it.
"Pray n make the rite decision u didn't do anything intentional u tried b strong n call ur dad 4 support he was still ur child n u owe him that much," Boothe-Rowe wrote her husband around 7:45 a.m. on May 27.
A flurry of messages followed over the next few minutes, with Boothe-Rowe urging her husband to call 911 and do something by noon or she would. "I just just dnt want u and (the baby) to get involve," Boothe wrote around 7:50 a.m., immediately followed by: "Cause ur right I didn't do any ting wrong intentionally."
In another message, Boothe told his wife he would "make sure u have nuttin to do with this."
"I don't as a matter of fact," she replied. "But I cud have made you help him more. I so miss him I wish it didn't go like this."
Boothe-Rowe deleted all the messages on her phone before returning to Canada on May 30, knowing they would prove she had known Shakeil was dead, she said. She was arrested at the border.
The stepmother said she knew authorities would be looking for her, even though she "didn't have anything to do with Shakeil's death."
Court has heard she knew he was being beaten, had seen Boothe strike him with a belt and, once, stomp on his chest.
Twice she noticed cuts on the boy's legs, but never saw the extent of his injuries since he always wore jeans and long-sleeved shirts, she said. His father was in charge of shower time, she said.
She admitted to lying to police officers and, later, withholding information from children's aid because she was "still protecting Garfield."
She described living in fear of the only man with whom she'd had a relationship, wanting to leave him but fearing he would hurt her or his sons.
"If I should ever leave the house, he'll hunt me down... He also said that if I leave the house, I wouldn't be leaving alive," she testified.
"Why didn't you just call police to get help?" her lawyer Brian Ross asked.
"I was controlled by Garfield, I had fear and I was just paralyzed by fear," she replied.
Boothe-Rowe said she only fully realized what was happening to her while taking a course on domestic abuse during her incarceration.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Custodial dad charged in death of 10-year-old son (Brampton, Ontario, Canada)
Dad GARFIELD BOOTHE obviously had custody of this boy, though the press--as usual--is reluctant to say so in clear terms. So what happened to the boy's mother? Is she deceased? Or did Daddy get custody through the courts? Somebody needs to do their jobs better. Whenever a custodial father is arrested for murder, you should ALWAYS question how and why he got custody and who gave it to him. Single moms--more often that not--are a default parent. Nobody challenged them for custody, so their custodial status is just a given. Dads nearly always are GRANTED custody, so when a custodial father kills a child, there's nearly ALWAYS a back story.
INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT.
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110530/brampton-death-boothe-110530/20110531/?hub=TorontoNewHome
Father charged in death of 10-year-old son
A Brampton father has been charged in connection with the death of his 10-year-old son. Michelle Dube reports.
Toronto police charged the father with second-degree murder in connection with the death of his 10-year-old son on May 30, 2011.
ctvtoronto.ca
Date: Tuesday May. 31, 2011 9:45 AM ET
Police have charged a Brampton man in connection with the death of his 10-year-old son.
Shakeil Boothe, 10, was found without vital signs inside his family's home in Brampton at about 5 p.m. on Friday.
Neighbours told CTV Toronto that loud arguing was heard, and that a moving truck was seen outside the home in the Dixie Road and Queen Street East area.
Garfield Boothe, 31, has been charged with failing to provide the necessities of life.
Peel Regional police say Boothe's death is a case of abuse where legal and moral responsibilities weren't met.
"Being a parent doesn't just mean you have a moral responsibility to the person you care for. There is a legal responsibility as well to ensure their health and welfare," said Const. Adam Minnion.
Rilla Armitage, a neighbour, said that area residents were hoping Boothe's death was the result of an undiagnosed illness.
"Something nicer, as if there's a nice way to die. But it's horrific," said Armitage.
She described Boothe as a "terribly polite child" and said he lived with his father, step-mother and their eight-month-old baby. Armitage said the family kept to themselves.
Boothe was a Grade 5 student who played soccer at Hanover Road Public School before he was allegedly taken out of school by his father, according to school officials.
Results from an autopsy over the weekend will not be released to the public.
After making a court appearance on Saturday, Boothe is scheduled to make another Tuesday morning.
Anyone with more information is asked to call Peel Regional Police at (905)453-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT.
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110530/brampton-death-boothe-110530/20110531/?hub=TorontoNewHome
Father charged in death of 10-year-old son
A Brampton father has been charged in connection with the death of his 10-year-old son. Michelle Dube reports.
Toronto police charged the father with second-degree murder in connection with the death of his 10-year-old son on May 30, 2011.
ctvtoronto.ca
Date: Tuesday May. 31, 2011 9:45 AM ET
Police have charged a Brampton man in connection with the death of his 10-year-old son.
Shakeil Boothe, 10, was found without vital signs inside his family's home in Brampton at about 5 p.m. on Friday.
Neighbours told CTV Toronto that loud arguing was heard, and that a moving truck was seen outside the home in the Dixie Road and Queen Street East area.
Garfield Boothe, 31, has been charged with failing to provide the necessities of life.
Peel Regional police say Boothe's death is a case of abuse where legal and moral responsibilities weren't met.
"Being a parent doesn't just mean you have a moral responsibility to the person you care for. There is a legal responsibility as well to ensure their health and welfare," said Const. Adam Minnion.
Rilla Armitage, a neighbour, said that area residents were hoping Boothe's death was the result of an undiagnosed illness.
"Something nicer, as if there's a nice way to die. But it's horrific," said Armitage.
She described Boothe as a "terribly polite child" and said he lived with his father, step-mother and their eight-month-old baby. Armitage said the family kept to themselves.
Boothe was a Grade 5 student who played soccer at Hanover Road Public School before he was allegedly taken out of school by his father, according to school officials.
Results from an autopsy over the weekend will not be released to the public.
After making a court appearance on Saturday, Boothe is scheduled to make another Tuesday morning.
Anyone with more information is asked to call Peel Regional Police at (905)453-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Custodial dad on trial for killing 10-year-old son (Brampton, Ontario, Canada)
Dad is identified as GARFIELD BOOTHE. See our past posts on this guy. The article below, like so many articles that deal with the actual trials, manages to avoid mentioning that this father stripped the mother of custody.
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/02/20140203-151706.html
Ontario dad emotionless when told son, 10, dead, court hears
3:17 pm, February 3rd, 2014
TERRY DAVIDSON | QMI AGENCY
BRAMPTON, Ont. -- A father charged with killing his 10-year-old son appeared calm and showed little emotion when emergency personnel arrived to find the child dead in his bedroom, a jury heard Monday.
Garfield Boothe, 31, who's accused of abusing and neglecting his son, Shakeil, in the months leading up to the May 2011 death, led paramedics to the child, court heard.
They found the boy in his bed, cold to the touch and white foam oozing from his mouth, two paramedics testified.
Boothe and his wife, Nichelle Boothe-Rowe, have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
Peel paramedic Kristy Eastwood, who first arrived at the family's home with partner Michael Niffin, said Shakeil's body was cold and stiff, and that the boy had obviously been dead for some time.
Eastwood told the boy's father that his son had died.
"He said, 'OK.' He didn't really react at all... He seemed very calm," Eastwood told court.
Niffin testified Boothe showed no signs of grief and made no attempt to go to the child.
In her opening statement, Crown attorney Kelly Slate said Shakeil had suffered internal and external injuries "to almost every part of his body." He was malnourished and suffering from pneumonia.
Slate said that Boothe removed Shakeil from school and began chaining him to his bed, freeing him only for escorted trips to the washroom and when people visited.
Shakeil, Slate said, was also not fed properly.
She also alleged that Boothe at one point had "stomped" on Shakeil's chest after the boy ripped a page out of a Bible.
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2014/02/20140203-151706.html
Ontario dad emotionless when told son, 10, dead, court hears
3:17 pm, February 3rd, 2014
TERRY DAVIDSON | QMI AGENCY
BRAMPTON, Ont. -- A father charged with killing his 10-year-old son appeared calm and showed little emotion when emergency personnel arrived to find the child dead in his bedroom, a jury heard Monday.
Garfield Boothe, 31, who's accused of abusing and neglecting his son, Shakeil, in the months leading up to the May 2011 death, led paramedics to the child, court heard.
They found the boy in his bed, cold to the touch and white foam oozing from his mouth, two paramedics testified.
Boothe and his wife, Nichelle Boothe-Rowe, have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
Peel paramedic Kristy Eastwood, who first arrived at the family's home with partner Michael Niffin, said Shakeil's body was cold and stiff, and that the boy had obviously been dead for some time.
Eastwood told the boy's father that his son had died.
"He said, 'OK.' He didn't really react at all... He seemed very calm," Eastwood told court.
Niffin testified Boothe showed no signs of grief and made no attempt to go to the child.
In her opening statement, Crown attorney Kelly Slate said Shakeil had suffered internal and external injuries "to almost every part of his body." He was malnourished and suffering from pneumonia.
Slate said that Boothe removed Shakeil from school and began chaining him to his bed, freeing him only for escorted trips to the washroom and when people visited.
Shakeil, Slate said, was also not fed properly.
She also alleged that Boothe at one point had "stomped" on Shakeil's chest after the boy ripped a page out of a Bible.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Custodial dad, step charged with 1st-degree murder in death of 10-year-old son (Toronto, Canada)
Read all the way to the end, and you'll discover that once again we have a custodial killer father. No explanation as to how or why dad GARFIELD BOOTHE had custody, or who gave it to him. Or why the boy's mother lived in another country.
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/206172--brampton-father-stepmother-charged-with-1st-degree-murder-in-boy-s-death
Brampton father, stepmother charged with 1st-degree murder in boy's death
05/17/2012 | CityNews.ca Staff
First-degree murder charges have been laid against the father and step-mother of 10-year-old Shakeil Boothe, nearly one year after the child was found without vital signs inside the family’s Brampton home.
Peel police said on Thursday that charges against Garfield Boothe, 31, and Nichelle Boothe-Rowe, 28, have been upgraded. The boy’s father was originally charged with failing to provide the necessities of life. That charge was upgraded to second-degree murder days after the boy’s death and ultimately to first-degree murder this week.
Boothe-Rowe was originally charged with manslaughter in the case.
The couple also has a toddler, who was placed in the care of the Children’s Aid Society after the arrests.
Police were called to the family’s home on Homeland Court, in the Dixie Road and Queen Street East area, around 5 p.m. on May 27, 2011, where officers found the boy without vital signs.
Shakeil had been pulled out of classes at Hanover Road Public school in the January before he died. His father allegedly told school officials his son was going to live with his biological mother in Florida.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Custodial dad took boy out of Jamaica; now charged with son's murder (Brampton, Ontario, Canada)
We've seen cases like this before. Dads who get custody by preying upon and exploiting the impoverished mothers of their children--moms who live in countries like Jamaica, Haiti, Mexico, or the Dominican Republic. And after these dads get their way and move the kid to the U.S. or Canada, they kill, rape, or severely abuse the kids. For a list of similar cases, see this post:
http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2011/02/immigrant-dads-who-once-in-us-or-canada.html
It looks like dad Garfield Boothe will be added to this list. This POS didn't even know this boy was his son till two years ago....Some devoted dad, this one.
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/30/father-charged-in-death-of-brampton-boy
Father charged in death of Brampton boy
By Chris Doucette ,Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, May 30, 2011 1:48:38 EDT PM
BRAMPTON — Neighbours recall little Shakeil Boothe’s excitement when he glimpsed snow for the first time a couple winters ago.
It’s one of the happy memories Homeland Ct. residents are clinging to as they try to come to grips with the 10-year-old’s murder, allegedly at the hands of his father who moved him to Canada from Jamaica for “a better life.”
“They seemed like the perfect family,” Dan Greig said Monday. “It’s just so sad.”
He said Shakeil’s father, Garfield Boothe, 31, only learned he had a son in Jamaica about two years ago.
“And when he did, he brought the boy here to give him a better start in life,” Greig said.
The youngster lived briefly in the Jane St.-Finch Ave. area before moving with his dad and stepmom to the two-storey house in the quiet neighbourhood, near Dixie Rd. and Queen St. E.
The family occasionally visited Greig’s home next-door for barbecues and Garfield seemed to be a “good” dad.
“His son was such a polite little guy,” Greig said.
“He always had a big smile on his face,” he added. “He was a great kid.”
Peel police responded to a 911 call at 15 Homeland Ct. around 5 p.m. Friday and found the child dead.
Shakeil’s dad was arrested the next day after detectives concluded the boy hadn’t died of natural causes.
“When we were in the house that first day, there were no visible signs of injury,” Const. Adam Minion said. “But since then, we’ve received the coroner’s report, we’ve talked to witnesses and determined there was a criminal element involved.”
Garfield, who is in custody, was initially charged with failing to provide the necessities of life.
But Minnion said the father will be formally charged with second-degree murder when he appears in court Tuesday.
Police aren’t releasing the cause of death, so neighbours can only speculate as to what may have happened.
Greig said he often heard the couple arguing leading up to the birth of a child eight months ago.
He and others said they believe Shakeil’s stepmother moved out a few weeks ago and took the baby with her.
Long-time resident Rilla Armitage thought the Boothes were “a wonderful addition” to the neighbourhood when they moved in a few doors away.
She said the family mostly kept to themselves, but they were always friendly.
“This is just horrific,” Armitage said.
http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2011/02/immigrant-dads-who-once-in-us-or-canada.html
It looks like dad Garfield Boothe will be added to this list. This POS didn't even know this boy was his son till two years ago....Some devoted dad, this one.
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/30/father-charged-in-death-of-brampton-boy
Father charged in death of Brampton boy
By Chris Doucette ,Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, May 30, 2011 1:48:38 EDT PM
BRAMPTON — Neighbours recall little Shakeil Boothe’s excitement when he glimpsed snow for the first time a couple winters ago.
It’s one of the happy memories Homeland Ct. residents are clinging to as they try to come to grips with the 10-year-old’s murder, allegedly at the hands of his father who moved him to Canada from Jamaica for “a better life.”
“They seemed like the perfect family,” Dan Greig said Monday. “It’s just so sad.”
He said Shakeil’s father, Garfield Boothe, 31, only learned he had a son in Jamaica about two years ago.
“And when he did, he brought the boy here to give him a better start in life,” Greig said.
The youngster lived briefly in the Jane St.-Finch Ave. area before moving with his dad and stepmom to the two-storey house in the quiet neighbourhood, near Dixie Rd. and Queen St. E.
The family occasionally visited Greig’s home next-door for barbecues and Garfield seemed to be a “good” dad.
“His son was such a polite little guy,” Greig said.
“He always had a big smile on his face,” he added. “He was a great kid.”
Peel police responded to a 911 call at 15 Homeland Ct. around 5 p.m. Friday and found the child dead.
Shakeil’s dad was arrested the next day after detectives concluded the boy hadn’t died of natural causes.
“When we were in the house that first day, there were no visible signs of injury,” Const. Adam Minion said. “But since then, we’ve received the coroner’s report, we’ve talked to witnesses and determined there was a criminal element involved.”
Garfield, who is in custody, was initially charged with failing to provide the necessities of life.
But Minnion said the father will be formally charged with second-degree murder when he appears in court Tuesday.
Police aren’t releasing the cause of death, so neighbours can only speculate as to what may have happened.
Greig said he often heard the couple arguing leading up to the birth of a child eight months ago.
He and others said they believe Shakeil’s stepmother moved out a few weeks ago and took the baby with her.
Long-time resident Rilla Armitage thought the Boothes were “a wonderful addition” to the neighbourhood when they moved in a few doors away.
She said the family mostly kept to themselves, but they were always friendly.
“This is just horrific,” Armitage said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)