Pathologist takes stand for second day in case of slain 10-year-old boy

BRAMPTON, Ont. – Ontario’s top forensic pathologist is set to take the stand for a second day at the trial of a couple accused of killing a 10-year-old boy.

Dr. Michael Pollanen testified Wednesday that Shakeil Boothe had been hit “heavily and repeatedly” in the moments before his death.

He told a Toronto-area court the blows caused widespread internal bleeding that overwhelmed Shakeil’s body, already weakened by malnutrition and severe infection.

Paramedics found Shakeil lying dead in his bed on May 27, 2011, his frail body cold and rigid and foaming at the mouth.

Prosecutors allege the boy was beaten, starved and kept chained to his bed in the months before his death.

The boy’s father Garfield Boothe and stepmother Nichelle Boothe-Rowe are both charged with second-degree murder.