UPDATED::Parents face charges in connection to Calgary infant’s death | CTV Calgary News

UPDATE:: Calgary couple Jeromie and Jennifer Clark found guilty in their toddler’s death

A jury has convicted a Calgary couple in the death of their 14-month-old son who never saw a doctor until the day before he died in hospital of a staph infection.

Jeromie and Jennifer Clark were found guilty of criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessaries of life for their son John.
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The forensic pathologist's report said John was malnourished and died from a staph infection.

The trial heard that John died the day after he was brought to hospital, where he had a seizure and two cardiac arrests.

The Clarks' lawyers argued doctors at the Alberta Children's Hospital were to blame because they raised the boy's sodium and fluid levels too aggressively. They also argued he was neither malnourished nor septic.

And people wondered why, this story when it first hit the news, was such a big deal

Following an investigation into the death of a 14 month old boy in November of 2013, Calgary police have charged the child’s biological parents.

On the afternoon of November 28, 2013, the child, John Clark, was admitted to the Foothills Hospital in Calgary after his parents sought medical attention at the insistance of a family member.

John was transported to the Alberta Children's Hospital for additional medical treatment but passed away in hospital the following day.

An autopsy and additional tests confirmed the child’s death was the result of a Staph infection complicated by malnutrition.

According to police, the parents, Jeromie and Jennifer, attempted to conceal the infant's failing health.

"We believe that the family followed a strict dietary regiment based on their beliefs," said CPS S/Sgt. Doug Andrus. The Clarks are strict vegans and Seventh Day Adventists.

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According to CPS S/Sgt. Doug Andrus, the child was not born in a hospital and received no medical attention from professionals during his brief life.

Pastor Randy Barber says the extended Clark family has worshipped at the Central Seventh Day Adventist Church in northwest Calgary for years, but Jeromie Clark and his wife stopped attending services without explanation.

"He became very radical, very controlling with his wife," recollects Pastor Barber. "They disappeared and we haven't seen them for about eight years."

Parents face charges in connection to Calgary infant’s death | CTV Calgary News

Vegan mom arrested over unhealthy newborn fights for baby’s... | www.wftv.com w/ Update

There is a very fine line when the lives of children are put in jeopardy. It is why the legal debacle surrounding Makayla Sault is so hard to swallow. That issue, in the end comes down to the sovereignty of First Nation people. But if an adult wants to follow a particular religion, have a fondness for woo, or ignore normal medical care, that’s their decision. Once it begins to influence others – especially helpless infants – I would argue that’s where it is not just their decision.

A new mother is fighting for custody of her son, who she hasn't been alone with since he was 12 days old, because of her vegan beliefs.

Sarah Markham's baby was taken from her because she opted not to take him to the hospital when he was losing weight.

Instead, she told investigators she wanted to try feeding him vegan formula.

Now she's fighting to get him back while she faces criminal charges.

“They've kept a child away from mom,” said attorney Mark O’Mara. “My client can only see her child once a week or twice a week because they're requiring the child be out of county.”

Sarah Markham was arrested in June when her son was less than two weeks old. He had lost 10 percent of his body weight.

But instead of taking the boy to the hospital under doctors' orders, Markham wanted to try supplementing breast milk with vegan formula.

Markham is a Seventh-day Adventist, according to an arrest report, and holistic healing is in line with her beliefs.

Vegan mom arrested over unhealthy newborn fights for baby’s... | www.wftv.com

UPDATE::Vegan mom gets back custody of baby, still facing criminal charges

A mother accused of refusing to feed her underweight newborn formula was given back custody of her baby on Wednesday.

Sarah Markham was arrested in August on child neglect charges because she didn't want to feed the baby the formula the doctor gave her, citing her vegan beliefs, according to authorities.

Markham said the formula the doctor recommended to her had animal byproducts and wanted a vegan option.

Four on trial over week-long exorcism 'torture' - The Local

Three men and a woman are accused of tying up the Cameroonian teenager in the position of Christ on the cross and keeping her bound to a mattress for seven days in the belief that her body had been possessed by the devil.

The four, including the victim's former boyfriend, were charged with kidnapping, acts of torture and barbarism.

When police discovered the woman at a housing estate in Grigny in the southern Paris suburbs, she was emaciated, dehydrated, in a state of shock and showed signs of having been beaten.

The victim later testified that her captors had kept her alive by feeding her small amounts of oil and water.

Her former boyfriend, Eric Deron, is accused of being the instigator of the assault and, according to prosecutors, had delusions of being a sort of prophet on a divine mission.

According to statements made by the accused, the exorcism was organised after the victim allegedly leapt on Deron whilst babbling incomprehensibly, an attack he took as evidence she had been possessed by the devil.

The four accused, who are all of French Caribbean origin, deny any acts of violence against the woman and say she had consented to the exorcism.

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Antoinette met her alleged assailants three years before the 2011 attack through the Seventh Day Adventists, a US-based millennialist Protestant church which has millions of followers worldwide but only 13,000 in France.

The church says the people involved in the case were all expelled a year before the alleged attack and has stressed that exorcism of this kind cannot be justified by any of its teachings.

Four on trial over week-long exorcism 'torture' - The Local