Phoenix Sinclair - 5 - Trial Starts For Manitoba Couple Accused Of Killing Their Daughter

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Nov 5, 2008

WINNIPEG — A jury in Winnipeg has been warned to prepare for "depressing and even enraging" evidence in the murder trial of Samantha Kematch and Karl McKay.

The pair are accused of first-degree murder in the death of Kematch's daughter, five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair.

In his opening statement, Crown attorney Rick Saull told the jury that evidence over the next six weeks will show that Phoenix died as the result of months of abuse.

Saull says the girl was left to die on the family's cold basement floor.

Sinclair had spent much of her life in foster care, and police believe she was dead for several months before anyone reported her missing.

The case prompted a review of Manitoba's child welfare system.

What is expected to be a lengthy and heart-wrenching trial starts today in a Winnipeg courtroom.

Samantha Kematch and her former boyfriend Karl McKay are accused of abusing and killing Kematch's young daughter Phoenix Sinclair.

The five-year-old girl's remains were found in a shallow grave on the Fisher River reserve in March 2006.

She had spent much of her life in foster care and police believe she had been dead for months before anyone reported her missing.

Her death prompted a government review of Manitoba's foster-care system, because she had been returned to her mother and her case file had been closed shortly before she died.

The trial is scheduled to last six weeks and several dozen witnesses are expected to testify.

http://canadianpress.google.com/arti...GSMa2jEz6j3Y3g

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Little girl died after months of abuse, Crown tells Manitoba murder trial

WINNIPEG - Phoenix Sinclair died alone on a cold basement floor following months of shocking abuse, her tiny body discarded like trash near a Manitoba reserve, a courtroom heard Wednesday.

But it took 10 months before police and child welfare officials even realized the five-year-old girl was missing - and her death might have continued to go unnoticed if not for the actions of two older stepbrothers who came forward to speak about the horrors they say they witnessed.

Now the boys, aged 18 and 15, are set to take the stand as key witnesses against their father and former stepmother, who both went on trial Wednesday for first-degree murder.

Crown attorney Rick Saull outlined the case against Samantha Kematch and Karl McKay, warning jurors they would hear "depressing and enraging" evidence and to not let emotions cloud their judgment.

He said 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, about 200 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

It's believed she died on June 11, 2005.

"After the final blows were administered, she was left to die on a cold basement floor by both of them," the prosecutor 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 a secret until March 2006, when McKay's two young sons from another relationship told their mother what they'd seen and heard.

The boys told their mother - who is expected to testify Thursday morning - and she ultimately went to police.

McKay eventually co-operated with police and led them "to the very spot" where Phoenix had been buried, Saull told the jury.

Kematch and McKay differ over what happened to Phoenix and why, said Saull.

The pair are being represented by separate defence lawyers but sat in the same witness box Wednesday, 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.

The trial is scheduled to last until Dec. 19.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/na...2-04bb81a2097a

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Trial continues today in death of Phoenix Sinclair

PHOENIX Sinclair died alone on a cold basement floor following months of shocking abuse, her tiny body discarded near an Interlake reserve.

But it took 10 months before police and child welfare officials even realized the five-year-old girl was missing -- and her killing may have continued to go unnoticed if not for the actions of two older stepbrothers, who finally came forward to speak about the alleged horrors they'd witnessed.

n Wednesday, Crown attorney Rick Saull outlined the case against Karl McKay and Samantha Kematch, the child's mother and former step-father, warning jurors they would hear "depressing and enraging" evidence and to not let emotions cloud their judgment.

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, about 200 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

It's believed she died on June 11, 2005.

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http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bre...-4889491c.html

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Little girl's long history with child welfare system ends with her death

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, jurors were told Wednesday.

It was just three months later that five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair was killed in the basement of her Fisher River home following what the Crown says was a lengthy period of physical abuse.

An agreed statement of facts submitted by Crown and defence lawyers Wednesday outlines CFS's ongoing involvement with Phoenix and her family in the time preceding her tragic death.

The document confirms 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.

"The 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. CFS workers are expected to testify during the six-week trial against Kematch and her former common-law husband, Karl McKay.

Phoenix had a long history with the child welfare system prior to 2005, including two earlier occasions where her file was closed. The following history was provided to jurors Wednesday.

APRIL 23, 2000: Phoenix is born to Kematch and the father, Stephen Sinclair. The couple "indicated they were not ready financially or emotionally" to care for their new baby and consented to a CFS placement. However, the couple changed their minds days later and asked for full custody. CFS obtained a three-month temporary order of guardianship and allowed the parents to have supervised visits.

SEPTEMBER, 2000: Phoenix was returned to her family and found to be in good health. Kematch split from Sinclair months later and allowed him to have full custody of Phoenix.

MARCH, 2002: CFS closed their file for the first time.

FEBRUARY, 2003: CFS reopened the file after Phoenix was taken to hospital with Styrofoam stuck in her nose.

JUNE, 2003: Phoenix was apprehended by CFS because of concerns about her father's drug and alcohol abuse. Kematch then told the agency she wanted to try raising her daughter again.

AUGUST, 2003: Phoenix was placed by CFS in the care of a Winnipeg couple who were friends of the father. Kematch agreed with the arrangement.

MAY, 2004: Kematch told CFS she was once again caring for her daughter. CFS checked on Phoenix and found her to be in good health.

JULY, 2004: CFS closed their file for a second time.

DECEMBER, 2004: CFS learned Kematch had given birth to a baby girl and that the father was Karl McKay. No contact was made with the couple and the file remained closed. It wouldn't be reopened until the March, 2005, tip that led them to visit Kematch but leave without seeing Phoenix.

Jurors were also given details about Phoenix's medical history. Although there was contact in the early years of her life, Phoenix apparently hadn't been seen by any doctor in the nine months preceding her death.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bre...-4889491c.html

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Stepbrothers to testify on Manitoba girl's death

WINNIPEG - An 18-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy are expected to testify in Winnipeg Thursday as key witnesses against their father and former stepmother, who are on trial for first-degree murder in the death of five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair.

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http://www.canada.com/topics/news/na...9-370436a48fa4

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Expect rage: Crown

WINNIPEG — Samantha Kematch and Karl McKay subjected five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair to months of horrifying abuse, and when she died, collected welfare benefits in her name, jurors were told yesterday.

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http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/A...aspx?e=1284586

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Witness takes the stand at Phoenix Sinclair trial

Says accused recruited her child to pose as murdered girl

Months after young Phoenix Sinclair was brutally killed, her mother and stepfather recruited another child to pose as the young girl for welfare officials, a Manitoba court heard Friday.

Phoenix’s mother, Samantha Kematch, and Kematch’s husband, Karl McKay, hatched a desperate plot to convince welfare investigators and the RCMP that the five-year-old girl was still with the family, according to a relative who testified Friday.

“(Kematch) asked me for my daughter to act as if she was Phoenix. I asked her why,” said Stephanie Roulette, one of McKay’s nieces.

“She says, ‘she’s in Ontario with her Dad’. I thought I was doing a favour for somebody.”

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Court told couple tried to use girl to pose as dead child for welfare

During tear-filled testimony yesterday, court heard the couple accused of killing five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair asked another girl to pose as their daughter for welfare officials months after she was killed.

Samantha Kematch, Phoenix's mother, and Karl McKay -- Kematch's common-law husband -- are on trial charged with first-degree murder in Phoenix's death. She died in June 2005 on Fisher River First Nation, about 200 km north of Winnipeg, but her death wasn't discovered until 10 months later.

"(Kematch) asked me for my daughter to act as if she was Phoenix," Stephanie Roulette, one of McKay's nieces, told court.

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Investigators quickly saw alleged scam

IT took two welfare investigators less than a day to realize Phoenix Sinclair was not where she was supposed to be, and to expose an alleged ruse by the girl's mother and boyfriend to continue collecting benefits after her death.

Investigator Edward Mann testified Friday RCMP contacted him the morning of March 9, 2006 to assist in locating Phoenix.

Mann supplied welfare documents indicating her caregivers -- Samantha Kematch and Karl McKay -- signed their last paper listing Phoenix as a dependent on Nov. 20, 2005, almost six months after police allege she died.

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http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/loc...-4890600c.html

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Mother of Phoenix Sinclair 'knew what happened'

After hours of not saying anything to police officers, the mother of Phoenix Sinclair finally said she knew what happened to her five-year-old daughter.

“I know what went on there,” a hunched over Samantha Kematch confessed to RCMP Cpl. Tara Clelland-Hall during a videotaped interview in March 2006, the day after her arrest.

“I didn’t kill her. It wasn’t me... I didn’t beat her to death. I didn’t move the body.

“I wasn’t home when she passed away.”

The jury will hear more of the mother’s statement, videotaped by RCMP officers, this afternoon.

The first-degree murder trial of Kematch and her former common-law husband, Karl McKay, began last week.

Phoenix died in June 2005 on Fisher River First Nation, about 200 km north of Winnipeg, but her death wasn’t discovered until 10 months later.

Earlier in court, RCMP Cpl. Robert Baker said Kematch showed little emotion while being arrested for her daughter’s slaying.

Baker said when he arrested Kematch in the Portage Place Mall in March 2006, her only response was ‘What?’

“I didn’t observe any emotion in (Kematch’s) demeanour,” the officer said.

“She seemed coherent and she could understand.”

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bre...-4891336c.html

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Manitoba mom emotionless, bored when arrested in daughter's death: Mountie

WINNIPEG - The mother of a five-year-old Manitoba girl whose death remained a secret for 10 months showed little emotion when arrested, the woman's first-degree murder trial heard Monday.

RCMP Cpl. Robert Baker testified Monday at the trial of Samantha Kematch - the mother of little Phoenix Sinclair - and Kematch's former common-law husband, Karl McKay.

The officer said he arrested Kematch while she was at a meeting in Portage Place Mall in March 2006.

He said when he informed the woman she was under arrest, "Her response was: 'What?' "

Phoenix Sinclair died in June 2005 on Fisher River First Nation, about 200 kilometres north of Winnipeg, when she was just five years old.

Her death wasn't discovered until 10 months later.

"I didn't observe any emotion in (Kematch's) demeanour," testified Baker.

"She seemed coherent and she could understand."

Later, while in RCMP custody, Kematch said she was "quiet and bored," Baker testified.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpo...1-20e61bfd7fd3

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Kematch said she's innocent in Phoenix's death

Videotaped statement airs in court

Editor's note: this article contains graphic details that might be disturbing to some readers.

One day after her arrest Samantha Kematch denied to police that she killed her daughter Phoenix Sinclair.

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Manitoba mother testifies, denies killing five-year-old daughter

WINNIPEG - The woman accused of brutally killing her five-year-old daughter told police she didn't kill Phoenix Sinclair or move her body, a Manitoba court heard Monday.

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http://www.news1130.com/news/nationa...ntent=n111048A

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EDITORIAL COMMENT

Who will save the next Phoenix?

For most parents they wouldn’t even have to think twice about whether or not they would run into a burning building if they knew it meant the difference between life and death for their child. Those children are the lucky ones.

In this world there are the unlucky ones whose time on this earth is cut short too soon through no doing of their own. The unfathomable reality of this world we live in is that there are children out there who suffer at the hands of others.

Five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair never had the chance to graduate high school, pursue a career, fall in love, get married, or have children of her own to love. Her remains were found in 2006, anywhere from nine to 10 months after her death. Police were led to the burial site near a community dump near the Fisher River reserve located north of Winnipeg. Last week the trial began against those charged with her murder, her biological mother and the mother’s former boyfriend.

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http://www.lportepilot.ca/index.cfm?sid=189226&sc=380

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Mother apologizes to slain daughter

A woman accused of brutally murdering her five-year-old daughter apologized to the young victim in a police interview played for a Manitoba court Monday.

"I'm so sorry, Phoenix. I didn't mean to," Samantha Kematch says to herself on the video as she walks around an empty police interview room during a break in questioning.

"But that doesn't cut it. I know you're never gonna come back. You didn't mean no harm to anybody. Told my lawyer I wasn't gonna say anything. Can't keep this in forever. I had, I had to tell the truth."

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http://www.thewesternstar.com/index....=189298&sc=505

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Jury shown RCMP's graphic interview with Sinclair's mom

JURORS heard graphic details of Phoenix Sinclair's final days today and watched as an RCMP officer fought back tears in a police interview room.

“Some horrible things have happened to that little girl,” Cpl. Tara Clelland-Hall tells Samantha Kematch near the end of a four-hour videotaped interview.

“It absolutely breaks my heart the things that little girl went through in her short little life.”

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Murder victim, 5, was shot with pellet gun, choked and starved: stepbrother

WINNIPEG — Five-year-old murder victim Phoenix Sinclair was regularly shot with a pellet gun "for fun" and was choked until she lost consciousness in a game the family called "chicken," her stepbrother told a Manitoba court Wednesday.

The 18-year-old said his father, Karl McKay, used to shoot Phoenix with his younger son's gun and tell her to "run."

"He would shoot her for the fun of it," he testified quietly. "She would cry."

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Manitoba girl, 5, suffered horrific abuse, trial hears

WINNIPEG - A five-year-old Manitoba girl was being deprived of food and forced to eat her own vomit in the days before she finally succumbed to a prolonged period of abuse and neglect that included being repeatedly shot with a pellet gun and choked unconscious, a jury heard Wednesday.

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http://www.canada.com/topics/news/na...8-b68eeac997e4

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Mom beat Phoenix

Admitted to making daughter eat her own vomit

Samantha Kematch pointed the finger at her common-law husband for killing her five-year-old daughter Phoenix Sinclair, jurors heard yesterday.

"I feel like I'm the one getting blamed here or something," Kematch told RCMP Cpl. Tara Clelland-Hall in a police interview video played for jurors yesterday.

Kematch and Karl Wesley McKay are on trial charged with first-degree murder.

Kematch said it was McKay who struck the blow that killed young Phoenix in June 2005.

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Manitoba RCMP find evidence of girl's remains

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phoenix Sinclair

After searching deep into the brush on a Manitoba reserve, RCMP officers say they have found evidence that a missing five-year-old girl was buried there.

However, investigators believe wild animals have carried away her remains.

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Court told of horrific child abuse

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'She wasn't even breathing': Slain Manitoba girl's stepbrother

Please note this story contains graphic material that may offend some readers.

WINNIPEG - He says her cries for help would keep him awake at night, a seriously injured little girl pleading for food and water while being kept like a prisoner in an unheated basement filled with garbage and cobwebs.

But it was the sound of silence that triggered a 12-year-old boy to make a horrible discovery in his own home, a murder trial heard Thursday.

The youngest stepbrother of Phoenix Sinclair told a Winnipeg jury he found the five-year-old girl's body just minutes after he says she got her final beating at the hands of her mother and stepfather.

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http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...a-be764ce74447

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Jurors hear 5-year-old girl beaten "for the hell of it"

Court told Phoenix shot with pellet gun, beaten with rod

A five-year-old girl was beaten bloody with a metal rod and had her face shoved in her own vomit before one final beating left her dead on the family’s dirty basement floor, a Manitoba court heard Thursday.

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'I didn't see any tears'

Phoenix's parents showed no emotion, son says

Editor's note: This article contains graphic details which may be disturbing to some readers.

Samantha Kematch and Karl Wesley McKay showed no emotion as they discovered the lifeless body of five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair in their basement, jurors were told yesterday.

"I told them to go downstairs, I thought Phoenix was dead," McKay's now 15-year-old son testified. "They didn't say anything, I didn't see any tears."

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Manitoba stepfather, wife charged with first-degree murder

WINNIPEG - A man accused of brutally abusing and killing his five-year-old stepdaughter sobbed and told police he tried to resuscitate the girl's lifeless body, a Winnipeg courtroom heard Friday.

Karl McKay testified it was actually his co-accused, the mother of little Phoenix Sinclair, who abused the child.

He said that at one point, the woman suggested they cut off the dead child's head to get rid of DNA evidence.

"I made a big mistake," a tearful Karl McKay told a police detective during an interview, which was recorded and played in court Friday. "I got to pay for it."

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http://www.canada.com/topics/news/st...2-adb4e3a0b726

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Editorial

How can anyone treat a child like that? (Comment on this)

Testimony heard at the trial into the death of little Phoenix Sinclair is painting a grim picture of this young girl’s last months of life. According to witnesses and a videotaped confession of her biological mother and caregiver (terms that should be used loosely), Sinclair was forced to eat her own vomit, was locked in the cold basement without food and was used for beebee gun target practice by her mother’s common-law husband. She was just five years old.

The jury was correctly warned as the trial started they may feel rage over what is revealed in court. Not even sitting in the courtroom, instead relying on media reports, the public’s ire is growing. No child, not one of any race in the world, should be treated as Sinclair was.

The bulk of that ire is directed at Sinclair’s mother Samantha Kematch and and her common-law husband Karl Wesley McKay, who are on trial for first-degree murder, and they should be punished severely if found guilty. They were the ones responsible for the care of that child and according to court testimony, they allegedly shirked those duties.

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http://www.cpheraldleader.com/Articl...aspx?e=1297833

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Accused beaten as a child, police videotape reveals

A frail Karl McKay told police he loved his kids and knew first-hand what it was like to be the victim of the welfare system.

Jurors began watching a videotaped statement Thursday afternoon that was recorded shortly after McKay was arrested for the death of his five-year-old stepdaughter, Phoenix Sinclair. "Yeah, I've had a hard life. I've been abused as a kid. I know what it's like to get a licking, stuff like that," McKay says in the March 10, 2006 police interview.

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'I made a big mistake': Manitoba man accused of killing 5-year-old step-daughter

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba man accused of killing his five-year-old step-daughter after months of horrific abuse told police her death will "haunt" him for the rest of his life and sobbed at the prospect of going to jail, court heard Friday.

In a videotaped interview with police played at his murder trial in Winnipeg, Karl McKay said he tried to perform CPR on Phoenix Sinclair when he found her lifeless body in the family's basement in June 2005.

"I tried to save her. I tried CPR," he told an RCMP officer in March 2006. "We were scared. I didn't know what the hell to do."

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Trial continues in death of Phoenix Sinclair

More finger pointing in death of five-year-old girl

Karl Wesley McKay admitted to hurting five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair but blamed her mother for the injuries that led to her death on a cold basement floor, jurors heard Friday.

“She’s a mean mom. She has no heart,” McKay told Sgt. Norman Charette on a police interview video recorded March 10, 2006, the day he and his common-law wife Samantha Kematch were arrested for the young girl’s murder.

That comment and others like it drew angry glares from Kematch, sitting a few feet away in the prisoner’s box.

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Man accused of killing step-daughter sobs in video

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Karl McKay, co-accused in the murder of five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair, court sketch

WINNIPEG -- The Manitoba man accused of killing his five-year-old step-daughter after months of horrific abuse told police he "made a big mistake" and sobbed at the prospect of spending the rest of his life in jail, court heard Friday.

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We all owe Phoenix Sinclair something

The Free Press has been taking some heat as the trial of Karl McKay and Stephanie Kematch unfolds in a small courtroom in Winnipeg. The two are accused of murdering Phoenix Sinclair, a five-year-old whose face first became familiar to readers three years ago, when she was reported missing on her reserve of Fisher River First Nation.

When her body was finally discovered in 2006, wrapped in plastic and buried in the woods near the reserve, a horror story began to emerge. It wasn't possible, many of us thought, that this little girl was abused the way people were whispering she had been.

But over the last two weeks in that courtroom, people have been taking the stand to confirm the whispers and more. The details are nauseating.

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Cops kept heat on McKay

Under constant police pressure to "do the right thing," accused killer Karl Wesley McKay agreed to show investigators exactly where he buried five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair's body, jurors heard yesterday.

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Video shows RCMP being led to Phoenix's body

A Winnipeg jury has watched a video today that shows murder suspect Karl McKay trudging through deep snow to show RCMP officers exactly where he buried the body of five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair.

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Stepfather led Manitoba police to slain 5-year-old's body, trial hears

Says he got idea to put pepper on stepdaughter's grave from CSI

WINNIPEG - An emotional Karl McKay led police to the spot where he had buried his five-year-old stepdaughter Phoenix Sinclair, admitting he did "a very sad thing" by putting the slain child's body near a Manitoba landfill.

"I'm sorry, you shouldn't be out here. Phoenix shouldn't be out here," McKay told RCMP officers who had driven him from the jail to the makeshift gravesite at the Fisher River First Nation, about 200 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

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'Shouldn't be here'

Video shows McKay at Phoenix burial site

With a video camera rolling, Karl Wesley McKay waded into a snow-covered clearing and showed police exactly where he and Samantha Kematch buried the body of Kematch's five year-old daughter Phoenix Sinclair nine months earlier.

"Phoenix shouldn't be here," McKay tells police on the video played for jurors during the couple's first-degree murder trial yesterday.

The video, recorded shortly before 10 p.m. on March 17, 2006, shows McKay and police officers travelling several minutes through the bush by snowmobile before arriving at the secret gravesite on Fisher River First Nation.

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Trial told graphic details of tot's burial

WINNIPEG -- A painstaking search for a five-year-old girl's body ended with a sombre discovery - five small bones found inside a shallow grave.

Graphic details of the March 2006 dig, including pictures and video, began emerging this week at the first-degree murder trial of Karl McKay and Samantha Kematch.

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Horrible but we need to know

If you are horrified, enraged, distressed, troubled, or saddened by the evidence that has emerged so far at the Phoenix Sinclair trial, you are not alone.

Far from it.

If you're a regular reader of these pages, you will have noticed the flood of letters we've received from Manitobans who simply cannot believe the atrocities that were allegedly perpetrated against a five-year-old girl in our midst.

I've even heard of everyday citizens who are completely unconnected to the case attending the trial just to get a first-hand look at the suspects.

I myself was there last week, and I can tell you in all honesty that this is the most disturbing story I have ever covered.

That is not an easy title to claim.

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McKay interrogator used 'father figure' approach

Playing good cop/bad cop is a time tested strategy for weeding out the truth from crime suspects.

A police investigator interrogating Karl McKay for the murder of five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair took a different approach: fatherly cop.

"The strategy is to speak to Mr. McKay as if he were a son of mine, as a father figure," RCMP Sgt. Norm Charette testified yesterday.

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Jury hears of search for child’s remains

Pathologist, anthropologist consulted before dig began

A painstaking search for Phoenix Sinclair's body ended with a sombre discovery -- five tiny bones inside a shallow grave partially covered by pieces of plastic and tape that had been used to conceal her body.

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http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/loc...-4895689c.html

[RaVeN71806]

This case is just inhuman and horrific..it reminds me of Riley Ann and what they did to her...how can you just disregard your own like its trash..what is wrong with people...