Christopher Cownden said the day his son, Noah, died in April 2008, he was told the toddler had fallen and hurt his head, and had been rushed to surgery.
“We were told there was a significant amount of bleeding in his brain,” Cownden said Wednesday at the B.C. Supreme Court trial of Bradley Ryan Streiling, 30, who has been charged with second-degree murder in Noah’s death.
Cownden said he had no reason not to believe what he was told.
He said that a few hours after he got to the hospital, medical staff told him and other family members that Noah had died. The toddler was three days short of his second birthday.
“They gathered us all in a room and told us he had not survived,” Cownden said.
From there, the family was taken to see Noah and heard the reading of the last rites.
Streiling’s trial by judge alone began Tuesday and could last up to five weeks. He has pleaded not guilty.
In his opening statement at the trial, Crown lawyer Daniel Scanlan said the prosecution contends that evidence — including some gathered in an undercover operation — will show Noah’s head was banged two to three times on the bathroom floor.
The defence said the death should be considered an accident.
At the time of the death, Streiling was in a common-law relationship with Meadow Dykes, Noah’s mother. Dykes and Cownden were separated and shared custody of Noah and his three siblings.
Noah’s death was initially ruled an accident. Almost five years later, on April 5, 2013, Streiling was arrested and charged. He was released on $10,000 bail in December 2013, with court-ordered conditions that include a no-contact order with 32 designated adults and children, a prohibition from being at such sites as school grounds and daycares, staying away from anyone under 18, and not consuming alcohol or drugs.
Streiling sits in the prisoner’s dock during the trial but is not in custody.
A large contingent of family and friends connected to Noah has attended each day.
Cownden testified that Dykes told him the fall had taken place in the bathroom of her home. He said he also heard that Noah appeared fine at first, then started having convulsions.
Following Noah’s death, Cownden said, he talked to someone from the B.C. Coroners office at the hospital and was told standard procedures would follow.
“They would determine from there if they were going to proceed with any kind of investigation.”
Michael Wickheim, one of the ambulance paramedics who treated Noah before he was taken to hospital, said the child seemed to be in a “critical state” when he arrived at the home.
“He appeared to be deeply unconscious,” Wickheim said. “His breathing was shallow and very slow.”
