Baby shaken to death: defense proposes five years of imprisonment for Katy Jomphe

Guilty of involuntary manslaughter of a 10-month-old girl she was looking after, Katy Jomphe spoke on Tuesday, swearing that she was not indifferent to the pain of little Élyana’s parents, without however apologizing. “Allow me to experience this tragedy in my own way.”

• Read also: Death of a 10-month-old girl: a former guardian from Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval guilty of manslaughter

• Read also: Little girl shaken to death by her guardian: “Katy Jomphe destroyed our life”, grieving parents confide with pain

The 42-year-old accused made a point of reading a short statement Tuesday morning for comments on the sentence that should be imposed on her.

Even though judge Sandra Rioux declared her guilty last May of having shaken the child in a lengthy judgment of around a hundred pages, Katy Jomphe deplored that people “believe her guilty of having been able to do harm to this little one.”

“That’s hard to take,” added the guardian in tears, provoking an instant angry reaction from the little victim’s loved ones.

“Not indifferent”

Criminally responsible for shaking the 10-month-old girl to death, Katy Jomphe added in her letter that she sees the images of May 1, 2018 constantly scrolling through her head.

“I don’t go a day without remembering each of the details that gnaw at me and wondering what more I could have done to save her,” she insisted.

The only words Katy Jomphe had for the child’s parents were to assure them of her compassion despite her apparent distance.

“Although these words will never be able to erase the pain and sorrow, I wanted to emphasize that I am not indifferent to the ordeal that the parents may have experienced,” she said in concluding her statement.

Five years for defense

^{His lawyer, M}e Nicolas Déry, suggested on Tuesday the imposition of a five-year penitentiary sentence, arguing that it would be a sentence “in the middle of the high range”.

“What you have is a single gesture, a single offense,” underlines M^e Déry, describing the death of Élyana Linteau as “a loss of control” of the accused. The latter now works as a cleaner since the closure of her daycare.

“It is an extremely serious crime, we do not deny it in defense. The seriousness of the offense is recognized, but it is Katy Jomphe who must be sentenced today, a person with no criminal record,” recalled the defense lawyer.

Remember that the public prosecutor argued for the imposition of a 12-year sentence. Me Michel Bérubé considered in particular that Katy Jomphe had shown no remorse and that she had chosen to open a daycare even though she knew her “angry and aggressive” character, thus placing the children at risk.

“Katy Jomphe knew she was impulsive. She knew she was aggressive. She was after children. Babies. […] Here, there is no accident, there is an act of great violence.”

Pain and incomprehension

The little victim in this case, Élyana Linteau, can now be identified after the family requested the lifting of the publication ban which protected her.

The child’s father and mother, Claude Jr Linteau and Jenna Rainville, gave powerful testimonies on Monday, recalling the impact of their little girl’s death on their lives and the drama of her last moments.

“My daughter, you have disappeared, leaving behind you a trail of tears and incomprehension. You disappeared, leaving behind a family, now broken by tragedy and grief,” confided M^me Rainville, recalling that none of this would have happened had it not been for the passage of Katy Jomphe in their lives.

Judge Sandra Rioux will deliver her decision next February.