WARNING: This story contains content some readers may find disturbing. Discretion is strongly advised.
Appeals by a Calgary couple found guilty of killing their diabetic teenage son have been dismissed.
Emil and Rodica Radita challenged their first-degree murder convictions two years ago in the death of 15-year-old Alexandru.
Witnesses at their trial testified the boy was so neglected that he weighed 37 pounds when he died in 2013 of complications from untreated diabetes and starvation.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Karen Horner convicted the Raditas and sentenced them to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
They filed separate notices of appeal the following month.
Three Alberta Court of Appeal judges denied their appeals, saying there was ample and uncontested medical evidence heard at trial about the boy’s cause of death.
“‘The appellants’ repeated failure to adequately treat Alex’s diabetes, the intentional and deliberate steps they took to isolate him from the outside world, and the appellants’ own admissions that their omissions in providing Alex with adequate insulin and medical care caused his death are sufficient to meet the immediate, direct and substantial cause threshold,” they wrote in Thursday’s decision.
Rodica Radita had argued that the judge showed bias by crying during the trial.
“I am not guilty of murdering my son, and the judge finding that I am shows that she did not look at all of the evidence,” she said in a handwritten note when she filed her appeal.
When Horner handed down her verdict at trial, she said the couple was in gross denial of Alexandru’s disease.
“Children in Canada rarely die from diabetes, but proper treatment requires due diligence.”
She said it appeared that Alexandru had not received proper care for years, even though the Raditas were fully trained in how to look after him.
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