Matthew Rich murder case: Review called into how infant's brain went missing

A review will be conducted into how key evidence in a Labrador infant murder case was lost, causing the case against the baby's father to fall apart.

• Brain that was evidence in Labrador infant death case likely thrown out with medical waste, docs show
• Grandfather wants 'justice served' for Matthew Rich

Justice and Public Safety Minister Andrew Parsons said the review will be made public once it is completed.

"Before there is any blame, there has to be accountability," Parsons told the St. John's Morning Show Wednesday.

The review comes after a CBC News Investigation revealed details on how the necessary evidence for the prosecution — the child's brain — went missing and was presumed thrown out.

"Like anybody else, when you wake up in the morning and hear a story like this it's upsetting," Parsons said.

"So when I look at something like this, I want answers too."

Four-month-old Matthew Rich died in October 2013, after being taken to hospital in Happy Valley-Goose Bay with a serious head injury

A month later, his father Thomas Michel, from Sheshatshiu, was charged with second-degree murder.

But the case against Michel collapsed and the charge was dropped when it was revealed in December 2015 that the baby's brain was likely inadvertently disposed of while in the possession of the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in St. John's. 

'Someone has to be responsible'

Matthew Rich's grandfather Sebastian Benuen said the review is good news, but is skeptical as to what it will reveal.

"I think the inquiry needs to happen because someone has to be responsible for how the brain got lost, for who destroyed it and somebody has to pay," Benuen told CBC News Wednesday.

"Whether it's Eastern Health, Justice, or Child Youth Family Services, somebody [has to] pay."

Benuen said the infant's death and the case being dropped has pained him and his family.

Now he wants someone to be accountable for the error. 

'Discarded in error'

Documents obtained by CBC News show the examination of Rich's brain could not be completed in the forensic pathology autopsy room due to occupational health and safety restrictions — it was instead done in the hospital's autopsy room, which had a fume hood.

A review found that Eastern Health had been using the hospital autopsy room to store "wet tissue from both autopsies and surgical specimens that are for disposal."

I don't know if there is anything I can do to deliver justice in this case given what's happened. But what I can do is ensure this doesn't happen again.- Justice Minister Andrew Parsons

At the time, the anatomic pathology residency program was "receiving heavy criticism for the potentially toxic environment created by storage and dumping in the hospital autopsy room," chief medical examiner Simon Avis noted in a 2014 letter to the RCMP.

In an attempt to rectify the issue, Avis wrote, "an attempt was made to correct the storage buildup and it is likely that the brain was discarded in error, mistaken for tissue for disposal."

Parsons, who was appointed to the justice portfolio when the new Liberal government took office last month, said he feels for the family of Rich and he wants to get to the bottom of what happened.

"At the end of the day we have a situation where necessary evidence was disposed of when it shouldn't have been and it's unacceptable," he said.

"The facts of the matter are so tragic and anybody who is a parent feels in this case."

No timeline has been identified for the review, but Parsons stressed that it will be made public once it's concluded.

Carol Chafe, the province's child and youth advocate, announced last December that she will be conducting her own review into what services the baby was given prior to his death.

"I don't know if there is anything I can do to deliver justice in this case given what's happened," Parsons said, "But what I can do is ensure this doesn't happen again."