Police interviews, recorded conversations begin 2nd week of Regina mother's murder trial

Police interviews and recorded private conversations dominated the Crown evidence as the second-degree murder trial for a Regina woman accused in the death of her 18-month old son entered its second week.

Chelsea Whitby, 27, has pleaded not guilty in the death of her son Emerson Whitby, who was found unresponsive at the family's apartment on Arens Road E. on June 10, 2020. He was pronounced dead at the hospital later that afternoon.

An autopsy eventually showed the child died of a brain bleed caused by blunt-force trauma to the head.

The first five days of the three-week, judge-alone trial at Regina's Court of King's Bench, which began on March 27, focused largely on the injuries found on the boy's body the day he died: bruises on his forehead, jaw and shoulder, along with round bruising on both of his eyes.

Court heard testimony last week that the two black eyes were from the child allegedly falling out of his crib on May 25, 2020.  

Last week, the accused's mother testified that she had custody of the boy for about a week after that fall, following a complaint to the Ministry of Social Services from the child's father.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, the Crown presented evidence entered within a voir dire — a trial within a trial normally held to determine the admissibility of evidence.

The voir dire at Whitby's trial is intended to determine the relevance of the Crown's evidence in establishing motive. Justice C.L. Dawson is set to rule later on in the trial on whether it's admissible.

On Monday, court heard a video interview between Whitby and a Regina police officer involved in the child protection case. It was from June 3, 2020 — the day the boy was returned to her care.

In it, Whitby told the officer she didn't immediately take the boy to the hospital because she was worried about COVID-19. The father, on the other hand, wanted him to get looked over the same day.

Whitby said that aside from the boy's black eyes, the rest of the bruises on the toddler's body were from him learning to walk.

"He's a rammy kid," she said, noting he would often run into things.

The mother added that doctors also thought he might have an iron deficiency, causing him to "bruise like a peach." 

The only injury Whitby said she couldn't explain was a healing rib fracture — something she guessed was caused by an earlier fall down exterior steps at her mother's house.

Whitby's mental health was questioned during the interview. She told the officer she had long struggled with anxiety and depression, noting that she was on antidepressants, specifically for her postpartum depression.

When asked multiple times whether she had ever done anything to hurt her child, Whitby maintained she had not.

"Just hook me up to a lie detector test, because this is ridiculous," Whitby told the officer.

She didn't end up doing a police polygraph test, at the later advice of her lawyer.

Police-recorded conversations

On Monday, the Crown submitted as evidence several conversations recorded by police after the boy's death — including an array of intercepted phone calls and audio records from a device homicide investigators put on the balcony of Whitby's apartment.

The conversations mostly involve Whitby and her then-boyfriend, Taylor Stewart, and their mistrust of Regina police.

The first was a phone call from July 10, 2020, when Stewart told Whitby he was pulled over and "grilled" by police, who wanted him to come to a police station to make another statement about the boy's death. 

In another call later that day, Whitby's mother advised Stewart to tell them he had "nothing to add."

Whitby agreed, saying, "they have nothing on us."

Stewart was scheduled to do a voluntary police polygraph test on July 20, 2020. However, evidence heard in court suggested that he died by suicide before then.

Police found his body and his truck outside of Regina, in the rural municipality of Edenwold.

Whitby alleged she never knew about Stewart's plans to take the lie detector test.

In another police-recorded phone conversation heard in court on Tuesday, Whitby told the woman on the other end — who appeared to be a psychic medium — that she blamed herself for Stewart's death.

"They're going to try to pin it on Taylor because he's gone, and then he looks guilty," she told the woman.

"He would never hurt Buggy [Emerson] — he loved Buggy."

Whitby's police interview

The Crown also submitted a video interview between Whitby and a Regina police homicide investigator as evidence on Tuesday.

The video is from Aug. 5, 2020 — a day after the mother was charged with manslaughter in the boy's death. That charge would later be upgraded.

"Heartbroken, terrible. I wouldn't have imagined my life like this at 12 years old," Whitby tells the police officer in between loud sobs, after being asked how she's feeling.

"This isn't scare tactics and lies," the investigator told her. "I think you'll see that everything that we've gathered — it points to something."

The investigator eventually questioned Whitby about why she took her mother's advice and obtained a lawyer before being charged. 

"Because I was scared," she said. "I don't know what to do — I've never been in this situation."

When asked by the police officer about what she thinks happened to the boy, she broke down in tears.

"I don't know," she said. "I don't understand how he's gone, because no one hurt him."

Court is expected to hear the rest of Whitby's police interview when court resumes on Wednesday.

The forensic pathologist who conducted the boy's autopsy is also scheduled to testify.

The trial is scheduled to run until April 14.

If you or someone you know is struggling, here's where to get help:

• Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (phone) | 45645 (text between 4 p.m. and midnight ET).
• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), live chat counselling on the website.
• Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre.
• This guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you're worried about.