By The Canadian Press with files from Lethbridge News Now

Parents of boy in meningitis death planning Supreme Court of Canada challenge of conviction

Nov 21, 2017 | 11:38 AM

CALGARY — A father whose conviction was upheld for failing to provide the necessaries of life to his son says he and his wife are taking their case to Canada’s top court.

In a Facebook post, David Stephan thanked his lawyers for initiating a conversation with the Crown to allow him to stay out of jail while they file a Supreme Court of Canada application.

Stephan and his wife, Collet, were found guilty last year in their son Ezekiel’s 2012 death from bacterial meningitis.

Their trial in Lethbridge heard they gave the 19-month-old boy garlic, onion and horseradish rather than taking him to a doctor.

Because the three-member Alberta Court of Appeal ruling to uphold the conviction was not unanimous, the couple has an automatic right to have the Supreme Court hear arguments in the case.

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“I would also love to thank our lawyers for initiating conversation with the Crown prosecution to have me stay out of jail while we are filing a Supreme Court application,” Stephan said in a recent Facebook post from his home in Nelson, B.C.

“And oddly enough I would like to thank the Crown prosecution, who in times past have been excessively cruel and inhumane towards us, but yet in this situation have fully consented to extending our bail that we have been out on for nearly the past year and a half as we went through the appeal process.”

Stephan said he believes the Crown is being co-operative either because it saw how cruel a situation his family was in or realized how bad it looked putting a family in an “inhumane situation.” 

David Stephan was sentenced to four months in jail and his wife was ordered to spend three months under house arrest — the only exceptions being trips to church and medical appointments.

The post also villifies a major news outlet, indicating “they are the ones responsible for leading the charge on sensationalizing our story and deceiving millions of people across the world. Over time I have come to recognize that in my opinion, they are nothing more than a criminal organization that is hellbent on inciting hatred towards those that are viewed as enemies of the crown.”

The post continues with, “Yes, Crown as in the same government organization that was withholding and falsifying evidence to cover up what really took place in the passing of my dear son to ensure that they could achieve a guilty verdict for my wife and I. With this understanding we come to see that as a media outlet they are not only susceptible to being influenced by their biggest advertisers (i.e. big pharma), but are also influenced by their owners, that being the crown.”

The post also blames other mainstream media, the RCMP, Health Canada and Revenue Canada for alleged threats against the family, not acting to protect the family against the threats, “unlawful actions” and inaccurate information.

Last week, a Calgary judge sentenced Tamara Lovett, 48, to three years in prison for the death of her seven-year-old son.

She failed to seek medical treatment for her son Ryan’s strep infection, and instead gave him dandelion tea and oil of oregano.

Justice Kristine Eidsvik ruled the boy died an excruciating, unnecessary death because of his mother’s failure to bring him to a medical doctor.