Dad convicted in toddler's death couldn't stand up to abusive spouse, court told

Daniel Williams struggled to stand up to the woman whose prolonged abuse of their 21-month-old toddler led to their daughter's death, his lawyer argued at a sentencing hearing Thursday.

Veteran attorney Greg Brodsky is relying on a defence he first established — battered spouse syndrome — to argue his client was neglected in an abusive relationship and could not speak up for himself — or their daughter.

The defence is asking for no time behind bars and a period of probation for Williams, who was convicted earlier this year of manslaughter for failing to intervene before Kierra Elektra Starr Williams died in 2014.

Kierra's body showed signs of months of abuse at the time of her death on July 17. She had broken bones, a dislocated shoulder and missing teeth. She was also severely malnourished and covered in bruises.

The cause of the toddler's death was blunt force trauma to the abdomen and internal blood loss.

Brodsky argued Williams was working long hours and didn't notice Kierra's deteriorating condition.

Williams, 37, thought his daughter was being taken to medical appointments, he told the Court of Queen's Bench Thursday.

"I guess she wasn't," he said softly. 

"I did my best to be a father, like my father taught me."

The persistent abuse was inflicted by the girl's mother, Vanessa Bushie. She received a life sentence last year with no chance of parole for 14 years.

Failed to provide for daughter: Crown

The Crown, which wants a nine-year custodial sentence, believes Williams didn't do enough to protect his daughter.

Prosecutors argued the defence of battered spouse syndrome should hold little weight because Williams' therapist could not test for the condition, only assess it. 

"He conceded his limitations," Crown attorney Daniel Chaput said.

Williams previously told police he did not take his daughter to hospital, despite concerns about the girl's health, because he was scared his other two children would be apprehended by Child and Family Services.

Chaput said that decision does not show a man being controlled by his partner.

It's a question of wanted and unwanted.- Crown attorney Daniel Chaput

"It flies in the face of the evidence we heard."

The prosecutor said it was "perplexing" to find Williams' two other children happy and healthy, while their toddler-aged daughter was so impoverished that experts said she was "starving" and "withering" when she died.

"There was no indication that they had any deprivation whatsoever at the same time Kierra was being so deprived," he said. 

"Again, it's a question of wanted and unwanted."

Brodsky was the first lawyer to establish b​attered spouse syndrome as a defence when he defended a woman who fatally shot her common-law partner in the back of the head following a heated argument in August 1986. The case ultimately went to the Supreme Court.