The Calgary Courts Centre is pictured in Calgary, Monday, May 6, 2024.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

By Canadian Press

COURTS

Parents plead guilty in 2021 death of burned, emaciated toddler in Calgary

Dec 10, 2024 | 2:35 PM

The parents of a badly burned and emaciated Calgary toddler have pleaded guilty in his death.

Court heard on Monday horrific details about the 2021 death of Gabriel Sinclair-Pasqua.

The 18-month-old boy suffered major burns to a third of his body. An agreed statement of facts says his parents didn’t seek medical treatment and tried to treat the burns with honey.

He died from the infected burn and head trauma, said the document.

Sonya Pasqua, 34, and Michael Sinclair, 32, pleaded guilty to manslaughter a month before their scheduled trial. They are to be sentenced at a later date.

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Crown prosecutor Carolina Valenzuela read the agreed facts in court detailing the child’s final days.

She said Gabriel was taken by Child and Family Services as a newborn, after his mother tested positive for cocaine, alcohol and marijuana, and was placed in the care of an uncle.

The boy was returned to his biological parents six months before he died.

Paramedics were called to the family’s home on Oct. 5, 2021.

“First responders arrived and found Gabriel in the master bedroom and described him as being already visibly deceased,” said the document.

“His extremities were cool, almost cold to the touch, upon unzipping his onesie his body was still somewhat warm to the touch. His skin was an ashen grey colour.”

Paramedics also described the child’s low body weight and various injuries.

A pediatric surgeon said the burn would have required emergency medical care and immediate hospitalization.

“Gabriel’s untreated major burn triggered widespread bacterial infection, or sepsis, in his last week of life,” said the court document.

It said text messages between the parents a week earlier discussed his injuries.

“We need him to heal then we can send him off to a facility ’cause we still need him as a paycheque,” Sinclair said in a text.

Court heard the couple told officials different versions of how the boy was injured, including that he fell and hit his head on a toilet and that he pulled a pot of boiling water off a stove.

“Pasqua and Sinclair admit that the harm suffered by Gabriel, both the burns and blunt force trauma, were significant. The burns would have been readily apparent and visible to both accused as Gabriel continued for days to suffer without treatment,” Valenzuela added.

Justice Glen Poelman ordered Gladue reports be prepared into the offenders’ Indigenous backgrounds before sentencing arguments are made in the New Year.

A date for sentencing is expected to be set on Dec. 20.