A Regina murder trial will hear from the couple accused of starving a four-year-old girl to death and causing serious harm to her two-year-old sister.
Tammy Goforth will take the stand tomorrow morning.
Her husband, Kevin, will testify on Monday.
They were the guardians of the two little girls in August, 2012 when the girls were rushed to hospital severely emaciated. The four-year-old was in cardiac arrest.
She did not recover; the two-year-old did.
The defence began its case today by calling two boys who were living with the Goforths when the girls became part of the family in the fall of 2011.
Both boys were about 12 at the time. Their testimony was similar. They told the trial the girls ate with the family, had good appetites, and were happy, but shy.
They described them as skinny with chubby cheeks.
They also said they never saw Tammy or Kevin Goforth strike the girls, nor were the girls locked in their room.
Under cross-examination, one of the boys told the court the door of the girls room was sometimes tied shut with a string at night to prevent the four-year-old from wandering around looking for food and making a mess.
The boy also testified there were a couple of occasions when mittens were taped to the girl’s hands to prevent her from scratching herself.
Emotions ran high in the courtroom this morning. Two people were ejected from the courtroom after an altercation that carried on and got louder and uglier in the hallway.
It was so disruptive the judge called a recess to allow things to cool down. The two people, a man and woman, were escorted from the court property.
The judge has banned them from returning to the trial.
The trial began January 18. It is expected to be in the hands of the jury by the middle of next week.