January 20, 2014 - 10:53 AM
WINNIPEG - A northern Manitoba man accused of killing his foster child told police he found the baby lying still in bed.
Roderick Blacksmith's second-degree murder trial has heard an audio recording of a statement he gave to the RCMP shortly after Cameron Ouskan (OO'-skahn) died in November 2008.
Blacksmith told an officer he had put the 13-month-old boy to bed in the family's home in Gillam and found him unresponsive when he went back to check on him.
He recalled flicking on the light and noticing no reaction from the baby.
The child was rushed to hospital and was pronounced dead several hours later.
Crown attorney Mark Kantor opened the trial by saying medical experts will testify in the coming days about injuries the baby had.
Blacksmith told police he was the only adult in the house and had just given another child a bath when he went back to check on Cameron.
"I turned on both (bedroom) lights and I looked at him closer and I said: 'Cameron, Cameron,'" Blacksmith is heard telling an RCMP officer in a statement taken a day after the child was rushed to hospital.
"His eyes aren't opening. He isn't moving."
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014