The Crown says a Calgary teen who died of starvation and untreated diabetes was doomed and trapped by the “two people with the power to save him.”
“What little life he was allowed in the end was marked by pain, by sickness and by a profound loneliness that must come from knowing the world is not for you,” Crown prosecutor Susan Pepper said Thursday at the first-degree murder trial of the teen’s parents.
Emil Radita, 59, and his 54-year-old wife, Rodica, have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the 2013 death of 15-year-old Alex (Alexandru). The teen, who was one of eight children, weighed just 37 pounds when he died.
Watch below: Global’s ongoing coverage of the case
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Crown alleges Calgary parents knew not treating son could kill him -
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Parents plead not guilty in the first degree murder of teenage son
“The Crown respectfully submits that it has proven all of the elements of first-degree murder in this case beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Pepper in final arguments.
She said the Raditas, who refused to accept that Alex had diabetes, failed to provide regular insulin injections, regular nutrition, regular medical care and critical medical care for their son.
“Alexandru could live but only if he could live without insulin. Alex could no more live without insulin, than he could live without a heart,” Pepper said.
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“The plan was simple — wean him off of insulin, keep him out of sight and pray. While it may be true that they wanted their son to live in theory, they did not want him to live in reality, if reality meant that he had diabetes.”
READ MORE: Diabetic boy Alex Radita’s birthday video makes sister cry at parents’ murder trial
The boy was found horribly emaciated and wearing a diaper in his parents room when 911 was called. He had no body fat and several sores on his body, including one that dissolved the soft tissue on his neck.
By failing to provide the treatment he needed, the Raditas left Alexandru extremely weak and totally dependent, unable to use the bathroom by himself and confined to his parents’ bedroom, Pepper said.
“He was as dependent as an infant in the end, with no one in the world outside of the family. His parents were the sole keepers of his life,” she said.
“And they withheld that life by denying him insulin, food and medical care. In so doing, their actions were a substantial cause of his death.”
READ MORE: Radita trial: doctor thought diabetic boy’s mother needed psych assessment
The trial has heard from medical officials and social workers who were involved with the Raditas from the time Alexandru was first diagnosed with diabetes in 2000 up until the family left British Columbia and moved to Alberta while under the eye of child-welfare services.
Witnesses testified that the Raditas refused to accept that their son had diabetes and failed to treat his disease until he was hospitalized near death in 2003. One witness described the teen as nothing more than “skin and bones.”
Social workers apprehended Alex after his October 2003 hospital admission and placed him in foster care–where he thrived–for nearly a year before he was returned to his family.
After the family moved to Alberta, testimony has indicated he was enrolled in an online school program for one year but never finished. The boy never saw a doctor, although he did have an Alberta health insurance number.
In her closing statement Wednesday, defence lawyer Andrea Serink argued that there was no proof that the Raditas meant to harm Alex.
“You would essentially have to infer that the Raditas are so malicious that they purposely planned and wanted to witness a slow and deliberate death of their son Alex,” she said.
The trial heard that the parent’s religious beliefs included not going to doctors. The day that Alex died, the family went to church and said that the boy had died but that God had “resurrected him.”
The congregation all prayed and about 15 people went to the home, where someone eventually called 911.
“The solution to a dying Alex was prayer and only prayer,” said Pepper.
Closing arguments are to wrap up Friday with a rebuttal by the defence.
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