The Court of Quebec on Friday found a former babysitter from Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval guilty of causing the involuntary death of a 10-month-old toddler by shaking her violently.
The sentence crowns a trial that began in May 2022, four years after the tragic death of the girl, placed in the custody of Katy Jomphe at the time of her death. Judge Sandra Rioux considered the version presented by the defense “incredible”, punctuated, according to the magistrate, with inconsistencies and contradictions.
It was in May 2018 that the drama began, when the former guardian made an emergency call. The first responders who arrived on the scene found the little victim unconscious on the floor of the family daycare. They attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation before transporting the child to the hospital, where she arrives in critical condition.
“The deterioration of his condition is particularly rapid in the hospital”, underlined the judge in the preamble to a decision rich in more than 100 pages. The toddler presents worrying signs: blood accumulates in her cranial box, the doctors also diagnose a retinal hemorrhage.
Three hours after being admitted to the emergency room, the child is brain dead. She will die at 1:50 a.m. on May 2, 2018, 16 hours after entering CHUL.
The defense claimed that the child presented upon his arrival at the daycare, the morning of the 1er may, abnormal symptoms. In her account of the events, Katy Jomphe had described an amorphous toddler, glassy-eyed, inanimate, who refused to play or eat and who kept quiet, expressionless.
However, underlined the magistrate, the former guardian, herself a mother of three children, “did absolutely nothing” in the face of the alleged lethargic state of the baby. Katy Jomphe has at no time contacted, underlines the judge, the family of the child to inform them of his supposedly worrying state of health.
During the fateful morning, Katy Jomphe, who had several children in her care and only a few weeks of childcare experience, phoned her sister for 50 minutes without once mentioning the abnormalities either. she says observed in the victim.
During this interview, the former guardian showed signs of impatience with the victim, according to the testimony of her sister, and seemed exasperated by the crying of the child, even railing against his refusal to eat ” his banana crunch. »
The defendant’s team claimed that the injuries that led to the little girl’s death had preceded her arrival at daycare. The judge, for nearly an hour, cut to pieces the expert opinions presented by the defence, deeming them insufficient to introduce a reasonable doubt into the mind of the court.
Judge Rioux also dismissed out of hand the explanations provided by the former guardian, considering them “incoherent and implausible”.
“The court does not believe her, ruled the magistrate, and does not accept her assertions […] The court is satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused shook [la victime] with enough violence to cause the intracranial injuries that led to his death. »
Katy Jomphe had no criminal record prior to this case. His file must return to court on June 8 to determine the hearings on the representations of the sentence.
Katy Jomphe is facing a life sentence. The Criminal Code provides no minimum sentence for manslaughter, unless the crime involves a firearm. In this case, the person found guilty incurs a sentence of at least four years’ imprisonment.