LETHBRIDGE – For the third straight day, David Stephan made his way to the witness box in Lethbridge Provincial Court to be cross-examined by Crown prosecutor Clayton Giles.
Stephan and his wife Collet are on trial on connection with the death of their 18-month-old young son, Ezekiel, who died of meningitis in 2012.
Giles asked Stephan why he hadn’t told doctors, social workers or the RCMP officer who interviewed him once they were at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, about Ezekiel improving from what Stephan and his wife thought was croup, before the boy started to show symptoms of an illness again.
“I didn’t feel that our lack of communication of that to the doctors, or whoever it was, would bring them (RCMP) to the opinion that we were neglectful as parents.”
On Tuesday, Stephan testified Ezekiel appeared to have croup the first week he was sick and then flu the second week.
READ MORE: Crown to cross-examine Alberta father charged in son’s meningitis death
Giles reiterated that Stephan had testified he and his wife were not doctors and had no medical training and that they did not know for certain if the illness had been croup.
Stephan also testified there were several officers at the hospital that made him fear he could be arrested.
“Do I feel I’ve done anything wrong?” he said. “No I don’t, but I felt that somebody else has clearly felt we’ve done something wrong.”
Stephan also told the court that he and his wife were terrified, fearing they could lose their older son.
“You know what my main concern was at that point? It was the idea that they might think we were negligent parents if they found out that we didn’t put Ezekiel in a car seat.”
Earlier, in testimony, Stephan had said Ezekiel was too uncomfortable to go in his car seat so he lay down on a mattress in the back of the vehicle while they ran errands in Lethbridge.
READ MORE: Alberta father whose son died from meningitis testifies at trial
The trial is expected to continue for the rest of the week.
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