David Stephan has written an open letter to the jury that found him and his wife Collet guilty of failing to provide the “necessities of life” for their son.
Earlier this week, it was ruled that the couple hadn’t provided the necessities of life for their son who had contracted bacterial meningitis.
Ezekial was 19 months old when he died from the disease in March 2012. The official report into the toddler’s death diagnosed him with bacterial meningitis and neurological dysfunction.
David and Collet, who allegedly treated their son with natural remedies when he was ill, will return to court in June during which time a date for sentencing will be set.
After the verdict, David posted an honest open letter on his Facebook page about how their case has set a “dangerous precedent” in Canada.
You can read it below…
The letter in full reads:
Dear Jury,
I deeply Love each one of you and appreciate the tremendous sacrifice that you have made over the last 8 weeks. I only wish that you could’ve seen how you were being played by the crowns deception, drama and trickery that not only led to our key witnesses being muzzled, but has also now led to a dangerous precedent being set in Canada. The flood gates have now been opened and if we do not fall in line with parenting as seen fit by the government, we all stand in risk of criminal prosecution. Remember what the crown prosecutors closing remarks were to combat the fact that the ill equipped ambulance resulted in Ezekiel’s brain death. She communicated that this was not about him dying, but rather about whether or not his life was endangered at any point due to our actions. How many parents have lost children for various reasons, all of which could be concluded that the child’s life was endangered and that the parents should have been able to foresee it? How many parents have had close calls to losing a child, wherein it could be concluded that the child’s life was endangered and the parents should have been able to foresee it? Whether medical attention is sought or not and your child lives, it is of no consequence. It is only about whether or not it can be proven that at some point your child’s life was endangered, and if so you may find yourselves in the same boat as us.
The flood gates have now been opened and my main concern is no longer for Collet and I, but rather for Canadian’s as a whole.
May Heaven help us all!
