Father in Brandon's manslaughter trial found guilty in infant 2016 death

Chelsea Kemp · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 09, 2025 8:20 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

A Manitoba begetter has been recovered blameworthy of manslaughter successful the decease of his two-month-old girl astir a decennary ago.

Keifer Mecas, 34, was location unsocial watching his 11-week-old Haelin Taylor connected Jan. 4. 2016, erstwhile she went into aesculapian distress successful Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, astir 40 kilometres westbound of Brandon, Man.

Haelin was rushed to infirmary successful captious information but died astir 3 weeks aboriginal connected Jan. 23.

Police deemed her decease a homicide. Both parents were initially questioned by police.

Charges were laid against Mecas 7 years aboriginal successful 2023, aft aggregate witnesses came guardant successful 2022 alleging helium had confessed to harming Haelin.

The judge-only proceedings began successful April.

On June 4, Court of King's Bench Justice Scott Abel recovered Mecas blameworthy of manslaughter. In his oral decision, helium cited witnesser grounds placing Mecas unsocial with his girl erstwhile the injuries occurred, arsenic good arsenic aesculapian adept grounds outlining the quality of Haelin's injuries.

"I've determined that the origin of decease was the exertion of important unit successful an acceleration-deceleration event," Abel told the court. "The injuries were not progressive but alternatively were caused astatine the aforesaid clip ... erstwhile the accused was the lone big successful the residence with Haelin.

"I americium satisfied that the accused caused the injuries to Haelin by the important exertion of force."

While the lawsuit relied connected circumstantial evidence, the justice ruled it was tenable to infer that Mecas inflicted the injuries that led to Haelin's death. He ruled the Crown had proven beyond a tenable uncertainty that Mecas's enactment – applying convulsive unit – straight contributed to Haelin's death.

The tribunal recovered that Mecas had committed an unlawful enactment by assaulting the infant, utilizing unit that was good beyond what would beryllium considered mean handling of a baby. The injuries were deemed unsafe and foreseeable, gathering the ineligible threshold for manslaughter, Abel said.

At the trial, the defence suggested an alternate script successful which Haelin had stopped breathing connected her own, perchance owed to choking. In a abstracted 2018 statement, Mecas told constabulary Haelin had been vomiting and struggling to breathe, prompting him to execute CPR with airy thorax compressions,

But, Justice Abel rejected that relationship stating it could not explicate the severity of Haelin's injuries — including trauma to her brain, eyes and spinal cord.

"Even if I were to judge that Haelin stopped breathing archetypal and the accused shook Haelin to revive her that mentation inactive does not make a tenable uncertainty regarding the origin of death," helium said.

Abel's determination repeatedly noted that aesculapian experts testified that the injuries were accordant with important acceleration and deceleration accordant with convulsive shaking. A doc had besides examined Haelin 1 period earlier the incidental and confirmed she was a steadfast babe astatine the time.

"I judge their grounds that the origin of decease was hypoxic-ischemic encephalon harm owed to a traumatic encephalon injury," Abel said. "The trauma to Haelin's encephalon caused her bosom to halt breathing resulting successful a deficiency of oxygen and humor to her brain."

Abel requested a Gladue Report — which explains an Indigenous person's history, their family's past and their community's past to the courts, successful bid to instrumentality the individual's unsocial circumstances and challenges into information — earlier Mecas is sentenced successful July.