The couple who killed five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair in 2005 were in court Tuesday, trying to have their convictions reduced, arguing the judge made some errors in their trial.
Samantha Kematch and Karl McKay were found guilty in December of first-degree murder in the death of Phoenix Sinclair. Lawyers for both Kematch, the child's mother, and McKay, the child's stepdad, want the convictions reduced to manslaughter.
Defence attorneys for the pair argued in court that Phoenix was not forcibly confined to the basement where she died after the last of many beatings. Instead, attorneys suggested Phoenix might have wanted to stay in the basement to get away from her abusers.
Phoenix died in a basement on the Fisher River Cree Nation in 2005. Her remains were found the following year buried near a garbage dump.
Defence council also argued it was never determined who laid the fatal blow and that Kematch and McKay should never have been tried together.
The Crown says the child suffered so much abuse at the hands of both McKay and Kematch that it really doesn't matter who delivered the fatal blow.
Medical experts say every single surface of the child's skeleton had been damaged from repeated abuse.
Court will resume tomorrow morning.
- with a report from CTV's Caroline Barghout
