Jury trial begins for Alberta couple charged after child dies of meningitis

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – Jury selection is to begin today in southern Alberta for a man and woman on trial in the death of their toddler.

David Stephan, 32, and his wife Collet Stephan, 35, have pleaded not guilty to failing to provide the necessities of life for 19-month-old Ezekiel, who died in March 2012.

RCMP said at the time that the boy had been ill for a couple of weeks but his parents only called for an ambulance when he stopped breathing.

He was airlifted to a hospital in Calgary and, after five days, doctors took him off life support machines.

Doctors told the boy’s parents he died of meningitis.

They run a nutritional supplements company called Truehope Nutritional Support out of Raymond, Alta.