Wife of accused in ‘suitcase’ murder trial says husband was a ‘monster’

TORONTO – For more than 15 years, the wife of a man accused of killing his 17-year-old daughter kept the girl’s death a secret, explaining to a Toronto court Tuesday that she maintained her silence because she feared her husband, who she called a “monster.”

It was only when confessing details of her troubled past to a pastor in southern Ontario in 2011 that Elaine Biddersingh revealed that the body of a girl found in a burning suitcase north of Toronto in 1994 was her stepdaughter, Melonie.

“I told him about Melonie, that she died in the apartment and her body was burned and it was all over the news,” she testified. “He said ‘Sister, I gotta go to the police.’ I said, ‘Pastor, do what you gotta do.”‘

READ MORE: ‘Suitcase’ murder trial hears from wife of accused

Elaine Biddersingh – who is also charged in the case and faces a separate murder trial next year – has been testifying at the trial of her husband, Everton Biddersingh, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Melonie’s death.

The jury at the trial has been told that the pastor Elaine Biddersingh confessed to gave his information to police – a tip which helped them eventually crack the case which had lain dormant for years.

Melonie’s identity, which had remained a mystery since her frail, charred body was discovered, was confirmed and police arrested the Everton Biddersingh and his wife in March 2012.

READ MORE: Father of slain teen told family she had run away, brother tells murder trial

The trial has heard that Melonie and two brothers came from Jamaica, where they were born, to Canada in 1991 to live with their father and stepmother.

Jurors have heard that the children were not sent to school, despite wanting to attend, and were allegedly mistreated. Melonie’s younger brother, Dwayne, died accidentally in June 1992.

Elaine Biddersingh has testified that her husband was an abusive spouse who controlled everyone in his family.

READ MORE: Brother of girl found dead in suitcase testifies at trial of father charged in death

She told court that her husband routinely hit Melonie with a belt, confined her in a tiny closet and rationed her food when he was angry with her.

When Melonie died, Biddersingh said she suspected the teen’s death was due to malnourishment, as her father had been restricting the girl’s food.

She told her jury it was her husband who came to her one evening saying the girl was dead, and led her to a hall closet where he poked at the teen’s body with his foot, court heard.

READ MORE: Graphic images shown in trial of dad charged in daughter’s death

Biddersingh told the jury that after she accompanied her husband, on his orders, to the location where the suitcase carrying Melonie’s body was set on fire, she was told by him to explain the teen’s disappearance from home by saying she had run away to the U.S. with friends.

She didn’t report the truth because she was frightened, Biddersingh testified.

“I didn’t tell nobody because I was in fear, I couldn’t talk (about) anything,” she said.

Biddersingh said she was also the target of her husband’s abuse herself, saying he frequently punched her in the face, kicked her and called her names.

Court heard that Biddersingh used to call police to report her husband’s abuse, but she said she stopped calling the authorities after a while because “every time they come they do nothing.”