Closing submissions have wrapped up in the murder trial of a baby’s mother and her ex-boyfriend, and the jury is expected to start deliberations next week.
Boravy Buth and Patrick O’Connor pleaded not guilty to
second-degree murder
in the baby’s death. Buth is also charged with criminal negligence causing death.
On Oct. 26, 2021, at around 4:29 a.m., police were called to a residence at 27 Winthrop Priv. for reports of a baby not breathing.
Paramedics arrived shortly after that and began performing CPR on the infant. The baby was transported to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was 53 days old.
The
Ottawa Police Service
homicide unit and sexual assault and child abuse investigator then launched a joint investigation that lasted 16 months.
According to a police officer who testified early in the trial, Buth told first responders that the baby had fallen off the bed.
Crown attorney Sonia Beauchamp argued that was unlikely in her closing submissions on Friday, and alleged that the baby didn’t die from the fall, but rather from persistent negligence and abuse from O’Connor and Buth. The couple didn’t seek medical help for the infant for at least 35 minutes after the fall, she said.
Dr. Christopher Milroy, a forensic pathologist, previously testified that the baby, identified as C.B., had severe chest and head injuries and two broken legs. The head injuries were caused by a heavy object and required significant force, and the chest injuries required 15 to 20 seconds of intense pressure, he said. The leg injuries also required twisting and pulling of the legs and could not have occurred during normal daily activities and normal daily handling of a child.
Milroy also testified that the injuries were consistent with cases of child abuse, and the head injuries were some of the worst he had ever seen in infant autopsies. It was unlikely that the injuries had been caused by a short fall from a bed, he added.
Photos of the baby’s injuries were also shown to jurors during the trial, as well as photos of the residence after police arrived.
Beauchamp accused O’Connor and Buth of providing inconsistent stories about what happened that night. She then played a recording of the 911 call that had been placed, where Buth didn’t report the fall to first responders. Beauchamp also said it was nearly impossible for the couple not to notice the baby’s injuries, especially since Buth was holding the baby in the hospital and O’Connor cradled the infant after finding him on the floor of the residence.
The fall may not even have happened at all, Beauchamp alleged, and the thump O’Connor said he heard may have been the fatal blow that killed the baby.
“Patrick O’Connor and Boravy Buth are, beyond a reasonable doubt, guilty of second-degree murder,” Beauchamp told the court.
Defence lawyer Shira Brass, representing O’Connor, argued on Thursday that her client wasn’t even in the same room where the murder allegedly happened. Earlier in the trial, jurors heard that O’Connor was in the kitchen when he heard the thump.
Buth’s lawyer, Natasha Calvinho, said in her closing submissions on Thursday that only O’Connor would know what happened because he was the last person to see the baby alive. She also argued that O’Connor was a manipulative and emotionally abusive man, pointing to text messages that he sent to Buth and that were shown to the jury.
The jurors are expected to start deliberations on Monday after Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips delivers instructions to the jury.
Buth wept audibly throughout the Crown’s closing submissions on Friday.
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