Fabian Morin Jr. was sentenced in June at Prince Albert Court of Queen's Bench. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Court proceedings

Man receives five year sentence for death of three-year-old stepsister

Aug 17, 2021 | 5:00 PM

A man responsible for the death of his three-year-old stepsister has received a prison sentence of five years and two months.

Fabian Morin Jr., 22, was initially charged with second degree murder but pled guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter.

The court case dates back to April 8, 2020. Prince Albert Police were called to a home in the 800 block of 17th St. W. The young girl was found unresponsive and died in hospital the next day.

Emily McCallum-Daniels was laid to rest in April 2020 in Sandy Bay. (River Park Funeral Home)

According to the statement of facts read in court, Morin had been left in charge of looking after his three younger siblings, a common occurrence while his mother was away. On this particular occasion the mother had been “partying with friends on and off since April 6”, but returned home occasionally to check on her children and make sure they were cared for.

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Morin initially told police he found the girl passed out in the bathtub. When paramedics arrived at the home, he was at the door holding a phone in one hand and his sister in the other. Morin was distraught and was yelling “please help my sister.”

While en route to the hospital, paramedics noticed bruising on the girl’s face and forehead was rapidly becoming more pronounced. She was initially taken to Victoria Hospital but later transferred to the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon where it was determined she had suffered a traumatic brain injury. She passed away the following day.

A collection of flowers and toys were left outside the West Flat home. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

The autopsy conducted on Aug. 14, 2020, confirmed blunt force trauma was the cause of the young girl’s death.

During the course of their investigation, police interviewed a number of people. In the end though it was one of the other siblings who told police Morin had become upset with the young girl when she “pooped on the floor” and he hit her when she was in the bathroom.

The child also told police Morin had not told him not to tell anyone what happened.

When confronted with the allegations, Morin initially dismissed his younger brother’s comment as untruthful but later admitted he had in fact hit his sister in the face and head several times with enough force to cause the brain injury that resulted in her death.

He also acknowledged hitting his sister was a sudden act arising out of frustration and explained he had not subjected her to physical abuse before that.

At the time of the incident Morin had been out on bail since December, and his approved residence was the one in Prince Albert, where he was living his mother and three siblings. The previous November, Morin was one of six people charged after a violent incident at a residence in Sandy Bay.

In that incident, a 26-year-old man was attacked and transported to hospital with life-threatening injuries. For his alleged part in the incident, Morin was charged with assault causing bodily harm, endangering the life of a person, break-and-enter, and assault.

For those charges, Morin received a two and a half year sentence, which will run concurrently with the manslaughter conviction.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell