Child worker at trial for couple accused of abuse says girls became gaunt

REGINA – A child protection worker has testified that two little girls who lived in a series of short-term placements had changed from being chubby-faced when she last saw them to gaunt and thin several months later.

The children’s caretakers, Kevin and Tammy Goforth, are on trial facing charges of second-degree murder in the death of the four-year-old girl and causing bodily harm to the two-year-old girl in 2012.

Child protection worker Alicia Ward described Wednesday the circumstances that led to the girls being seized by Social Services, and how they lived in nine different places while Ward looked for a more long-term solution.

Ward said that at each placement, the girls were chubby, quiet and sometimes affectionate, though there were concerns the four-year-old’s verbal skills weren’t what they should be.

However, when shown a later photo of the older girl, Ward described her as gaunt and slender, noting “you can see the bones in her shoulders.”

Describing a photo of the two-year-old, Ward said she was thinner in her face and showed signs of bruising and a scar on her face.

Sobs could be heard from family members seated at the back of the courtroom as Ward testified.

In the afternoon, court heard testimony from two foster mothers who cared for the girls before their placement with the Goforths.

Both women described happy children with chubby cheeks.

One of the foster mothers admitted she had heard other caregivers describe the girls as troubled. One took them to a doctor because they were throwing up and the doctor advised that she was overfeeding the girls.

Court was told the Goforths fell under a specific class of care-giver that doesn’t have legal status with the ministry, and there were no required checks on the situation at home after the girls were placed in their care.

The Crown alleges that the girls were malnourished, kept in poor conditions and at times restrained.

An agreed statement of facts says the four-year-old died of a brain injury after suffering cardiac arrest on July 31, 2012. She was also malnourished and dehydrated.

The younger girl survived.

Defence lawyers Jeff Deagle, who is representing Tammy Goforth, and Noah Evanchuk, who is representing Kevin Goforth, have urged the jurors not to rush to conclusions, both saying the Goforths did not intentionally harm the girls.

(CJME)