Coroner’s inquest into death of 7-year-old girl killed by her legal guardians begins

TORONTO – The mother of a seven-year-old girl killed by her legal guardians appeared shaken Monday as a coroner’s inquest listened to the 911 call that led paramedics to her daughter’s bruised and battered body in a Toronto apartment in 2008.

Emotions broke through Bernice Sampson’s otherwise stoic demeanour at least once more as the inquest into Katelynn Sampson’s death began more than seven years after the girl’s death.

On the call, made in the early morning hours of Aug. 3, 2008, Katelynn’s guardian, Donna Irving, could be heard sobbing as she told the operator the girl had choked to death on bread.

“She’s been laying there for half an hour and she’s not breathing,” she said on the recording.

“I was so scared, I didn’t know what to do.”

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Irving continued to cry while the operator instructed her to perform CPR, and later mumbled: “I didn’t mean to.”

Irving and Katelynn’s other guardian, Warren Johnson, were convicted three years ago of second-degree murder in the girl’s death and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years.

The pair beat Katelynn for months until her body went into septic shock.

Sampson’s lawyer said outside court it was the first time her client had heard the recording.

READ MORE: Inquest set to begin into death of 7-year-old killed by her guardians

“I think that we’re extremely skeptical of any emotion … by Ms. Irving,” Suzan Fraser said. “She knew that Katelynn was dead, it was pretty clear from the call – we question whether the tears were real and right now we consider it more of a performance.”

Fraser said nobody can truly understand what Sampson is going through.

“Ms. Sampson has been through a tremendous ordeal, first a death in the most horrific of circumstances, the most brutal thing that shocked our community. I don’t think I fully appreciated…the scope of Katelynn’s suffering and as we come to return to this death, and we look at the injuries that she sustained on every part of her body, we just are shocked all over again.”

Sampson said she hopes the inquest will ensure no other child will suffer the same fate as her daughter.

“At least when this is all done, Katelynn will rest, she’ll be at peace, and then hopefully I will get some peace,” she said outside court.

Sampson was addicted to crack and gave her daughter to Johnson and Irving in a misguided attempt to save Katelynn.

It was later revealed that a judge granted custody to Irving despite her criminal convictions for prostitution, drugs and violence.

Irving and Johnson also called the Children’s Aid Society saying they no longer wanted the child, but their call was transferred to Native Child and Family Services because Katelynn was half-Anishinabe.

It took a case worker 16 days to contact Irving, but by then she said she was getting help from Katelynn’s school, which wasn’t true.

The inquest heard Monday from Wendy Walker, a Toronto paramedic who responded to the 911 call. Walker and her partner found Katelynn lying on her back on the living room floor, her arms stretched above her head, the paramedic testified.

Walker’s partner bent over the girl to assess her condition, then shook his head, indicating they would not attempt resuscitation, she said.

That alone suggested Katelynn “had passed away quite some time ago,” Walker told the inquest.

She also noticed bruises and lacerations on Katelynn’s body – including a cut on her index finger that was almost bone-deep – and that the girl’s hair had been shorn off “rather roughly,” she said. One of Katelynn’s eyes was swollen shut and the other was clouded.

Though the walls were scrawled with crayon, there was no indication other children lived in the home, Walker said, adding she was aware of her legal obligation to report any risk of abuse.

The inquest also heard the agreed statement of facts from Irving and Johnson’s murder trial, which detailed how Katelynn came to live with them.

The pair was initially granted temporary custody of Katelynn in October 2007 because the girl’s biological father could not be tracked down and notified of the request. But the court waived that requirement and issued the final custody order in June 2008.

At the time, Katelynn had already missed weeks of school on a litany of pretexts, and her school had questioned her guardians on several occasions about bruises on her face and body, the inquest heard. In total, she missed 73 days of school that term.

Forensic tests on the apartment later found Katelynn’s blood in every room, in the hall and in closets, and on a plastic baseball bat, according to the statement of facts. There was blood on the floor of her room with drag marks leading to the hall and living room where she was found.

The inquest is expected to take four weeks and will hear from about 30 witnesses, including police officers and Katelynn’s teachers.