Mike on Crime by Mike McIntyre

against both McKay and Kematch, speaking to the fact justice officials believed this was a planned, pre-meditated killing. The decision was made despite not having the victim’s body. The search was expected to be painstaking operation. The ground would have to be thawed, and police had to be careful not to disturb the remains or any potential evidence. The location where Phoenix was believed to be buried was in dense bush located about half a kilometre off a snow-packed logging road near the Fisher River garbage dump. Police had set up a wide perimeter to protect the scene. It would be early April when the tragic discovery was finally made.
    WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 5, 2008
    It was the first time the public was getting to hear the full story of what happened to Phoenix Sinclair. Naturally, the opening day of the high-profile trial came with a warning from Crown attorney Rick Saull: The facts that were about to be presented in court were both “depressing and enraging. Saull urged jurors not to let emotions cloud their judgment when deciding the fate of Samantha Kematch and Karl McKay. Both had pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
    Saull described how Phoenix was repeatedly confined and abused over a lengthy period of time while living with her mother and stepfather inside a home on the Fisher River reserve. “After the final blows were administered, she was left to die on a cold basement floor by both of them,” Saull said in his opening statement, which included showing the 10-woman, two-man jury a picture of Phoenix. He said the couple made “feeble attempts” to revive Phoenix but never took her to a medical centre just a few kilometres away. Instead, they wrapped her tiny body in plastic, grabbed a shovel from a neighbour’s home and then dug a hole near the local garbage dump and buried her “in the cold ground” in a remote, wooded area. The couple then carried on with their lives, even applying for welfare payments that listed Phoenix as a dependent, said Saull. They also scrubbed down the basement floor where Phoenix died and repainted it in an attempt to conceal evidence, he said.
    Phoenix’s death would remain secret until March 2006, when McKay’s two young sons from another relationship told their mother what they’d seen and heard while spending time in the Fisher Branch home. She ultimately went to police.
    Kematch and McKay differ from each other about what happened to Phoenix and why, said Saull. The pair were being represented by separate defence lawyers but sat in the same witness box, with some distance between them. “We say each of the accused were equally involved in the forcible confinement and abuse of Phoenix Sinclair,” he said.
    Samantha Kematch refused to let a Child and Family Services worker see her daughter during a home visit in March 2005—and the agency responded by quickly closing the little girl’s file with no additional follow-up. It was just three months later that five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair was killed in the basement of her Fisher River home. An agreed statement of facts submitted by Crown and defence lawyers outlined CFS’s ongoing involvement with Phoenix and her family in the time preceding her tragic death. The document confirmed CFS received a tip on March 5 that prompted them to visit the family’s home four days later. They were met at the door by Kematch but denied entry.
    â€œThe worker spoke with Ms. Kematch but did not speak to Phoenix or access the residence as Samantha Kematch reported she had someone visiting,” Crown attorney Rick Saull told jurors. The case worker did catch a glimpse of Kematch’s other child, an infant named Rayne, “and decided there were no protection concerns despite not seeing Phoenix or the apartment,” said Saull. No further details were provided to jurors about the tip that led CFS to the home.
    Phoenix had a long history with the child welfare system