Man charged in son’s death left work in a hurry the day before calling 911:court

TORONTO – A Toronto-area court is hearing that a man accused of killing his son left work in a hurry the day before the 10-year-old’s body was found.

Garfield Boothe’s boss says the forklift operator asked to leave for a family emergency just before 11:30 a.m. on May 26, 2011.

Richard McCabe says Boothe didn’t come back to work the next day or the following week, and didn’t call to say why.

He says he only learned of Boothe’s arrest after someone spotted the man’s photo on the news.

Boothe and his wife Nichelle Boothe-Rowe are charged with second-degree murder in the death of his son Shakeil Boothe.

Prosecutors allege Shakeil was beaten, deprived of food and kept shackled to his bed in the months before his death.

Paramedics testified they found his lifeless body on May 27, but the Crown alleges the couple knew he was dead a day earlier.