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91原创 child murder trial on hiatus for two weeks

The trial resumes again on June 21
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Statue of Lady Justice at B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster. (Black Press Media files)

The murder trial of 91原创鈥檚 KerryAnn Lewis will resume in two weeks, following the end of testimony of what is expected to be the final witness.

After hearing from duelling expert witnesses in brain pathology over sessions held between January and the first week of June, the trial is now to resume on June 21 at 10 a.m. in New Westminster Supreme Court.

Lewis is charged with first degree murder in the death of her daughter, seven-year-old Aaliyah Rosa.

The Crown鈥檚 case since the start of the trial has been that Lewis, distraught over her limited access to her daughter, gave the young girl a mixture of over-the-counter and prescription medications before drowning her in a bathtub.

Witnesses who discovered the child鈥檚 body said she was wet and was wearing a bathrobe, on the bathroom floor.

On Monday and Tuesday, neuropathologist Dr. Marc Del Bigio testified as a rebuttal witness to the defence鈥檚 expert, pediatric neuropathologist Dr. Christopher Dunham.

Much of the two days of testimony was highly technical, and centered on issues of childhood brain development and the signs and symptoms of hydrocephalus.

Dunham鈥檚 testimony emphasized the possibility that Aaliyah鈥檚 death could have been linked to a pre-existing condition he said was never diagnosed 鈥 hydrocephalus, a condition in which the brain is swollen.

Del Bigio argued that the hydrocephalus was minor or moderate, and that the original pathologist鈥檚 finding 鈥 that Aaliyah died from some combination of drowning, lack of oxygen, and toxic drugs 鈥 was still plausible.

Justice Martha Devlin will likely make a ruling in the coming months after hearing from the Crown prosecutors and Lewis鈥檚 defence lawyer.

READ MORE: Trial resumes in 91原创 child murder case


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Matthew Claxton

About the Author: Matthew Claxton

Raised in 91原创, as a journalist today I focus on local politics, crime and homelessness.
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