Key witness collapses while giving evidence in Serenity inquiry
CBC
A key witness in the fatality inquiry into the death of four-year-old Serenity collapsed while testifying on Monday.
Leanne Worthington was called to answer questions about her involvement as a caseworker for the young Indigenous girl.
Serenity died in September 2014 after sustaining a head injury while living with her great aunt and uncle in a kinship care arrangement.
As an alternative to foster care, Serenity and her two older siblings had been placed at the couple's home near the central Alberta community of Maskwacis, south of Edmonton, in April 2013.
Serenity's full name and the names of her family members are subject to a court-ordered publication ban to protect the identities of her siblings.
Serenity's death, and the bruised and emaciated state of her body when she was admitted to hospital, prompted a firestorm of media and public criticism that led to changes to Alberta's child welfare policies.
The fatality inquiry, headed by provincial court Judge Renee Cochard, began in September. Court heard then that Worthington had been excused as a witness because of medical issues.
However, after hearing from other witnesses, including Serenity's mother, social workers and other staff involved in the family's child welfare case, Cochard determined Worthington's evidence was central to the inquiry's purposes.
On Nov. 8, Worthington made an application to be excused, citing medical concerns and memory issues.
Cochard denied the application.
The judge noted that there were many unanswered questions that only Worthington would be able to address because of the critical role she played in Serenity and her siblings being placed in the kinship care home.
The judge also had questions about the decision to forge ahead with an application to grant the couple private guardianship of the children.
"[Worthington] has been very much the central figure in the testimony of all of the witnesses thus far," Cochard said on Nov. 8.
She said the evidence before her about Worthington's capacity to testify did not outweigh her value as a witness.
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