The trial of a Regina man accused of beating his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter to death in 2012 is slowly coming to a conclusion.
Thirty-four-year-old Adam Cyr is on trial for second-degree murder.
This morning, in the absence of the jury, lawyers discussed some legal issues on the charge to the jury with Justice Fred Kovach.
During the trial, Cyr’s lawyer, Bob Hrycan, told the jury that his client did not kill two-year-old Natalia Shingoose and suggested the real suspect was Matthew Bennett, a close friend of Amanda Trevors, the girl’s mother and Cyr’s then-live-in girlfriend.
Bennett showed up at the home that Trevors and Cyr lived in at about 3 am on June 21, 2012, frantically telling them their front door was open. Natalia was found dead in her bed later that morning.
Prosecutors told the trial that she was already dead the previous night when Amanda Trevors came home from work, but she didn’t notice because the girl was laying in bed and looked like she was sleeping.
The prosecution also says Cyr came up with a cover story in case her injuries were discovered. He told the trial he heard a bang come from her room that afternoon and thought she had fallen. He says he checked on her and she was fine. It was the same story he told police when he was brought in for questioning.
The little girl died as a result of a severe beating that caused six broken ribs, a broken collarbone, and lacerations to her lung and liver. She died of internal bleeding.
Cyr was babysitting from about 3 pm to 9 pm, when her mother got home from work on June 20, 2012.
The jury will be back briefly this afternoon and is then expected to be sent home for the weekend as lawyers prepare their final arguments.