REGINA – Kevin Goforth testified Monday morning as the Goforth murder trial entered its third week.
Kevin and Tammy Goforth are facing charges in the death of a four-year-old girl and the alleged abuse of her two-year-old sister while the children were in their care in August of 2012.
“I fell in love with the girls at first sight.” – Kevin Goforth
During his testimony, Kevin was soft spoken and turned at times to speak to both the jury and defence.
When he described meeting the girls, Kevin said “I fell in love with the girls at first sight.” He added that they were slender, with high cheek bones and very cute.
When the girls first came to stay, Kevin said the two-year-old girl climbed out of a play pen and clipped her cheek on a dresser.
Kevin said he took the girl to the hospital for stitches. While the trials’ ‘Agreed Statement of Facts’ states no record of the girl being treated at the hospital, the defence presented a bill for $260 for stitches.
As his testimony went on, Kevin twice said that neither he nor his wife denied the girls food.
“I loved them. I loved them. I loved them with my whole heart,” said Kevin.
The defence asked Kevin about July 31, 2012, when the four-year-old was taken to hospital. Kevin said when he got home, Tammy was lying on the couch and the girls were upstairs.
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“I woke up to the most horrifying scream I ever heard in my life,” said Kevin.
He said Tammy was holding the four-year-old and screaming for him. He wiped his eyes and said he grabbed the girl and tried to comfort her.
Tammy was visibly upset as Kevin testified about that night.
Crown Cross-Examines Accused
Kevin denied ever using anything like cargo straps to restrain the girls as suggested in prior witnesses’ testimonies.
The accused also said they never used string tied between two doorknobs to keep the girls’ door locked as a means to deny them food, but the Crown cited interviews between police and the accused that suggested otherwise.
Kevin stressed in his testimony that police held him for questioning for two days. Stating he was tired and only wearing swimming shorts so wasn’t telling the whole truth at the time.
“I was pushed mentally to a spot where I thought they were putting words in my mouth,” he said.
Kevin also told the jury that the Ministry of Social Services never provided him or his wife information about the girls; like their real names, birthdays or health care cards so they would have been charged to see a doctor.
However, Crown prosecutor Dana Brule suggested cost wasn’t the reason they never got the girls medical aid, citing a $260 hospital bill that remains outstanding from when the accused took the younger girl for stitches in 2011.
Kevin denied the claims and reiterated that he loved the girls and never did anything to intentionally hurt them.
On Friday, Tammy testified that when the girls first came to live with the couple, they would eat too much and too fast, and throw up at times.
When she was shown pictures of the girls’ injuries, she said she didn’t recognize the mark on the four-year-old’s forehead or bruises on her feet. She also denied knowing where a bruise on the two-year-old’s face came from.
READ MORE: “I started screaming at the top of my lungs,” One of the accused testifies in Goforth murder trial
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