Children's Services closed case 10 months before toddler was slain

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Children's Services closed case 10 months before toddler was slain
By Karena Walter ,The Standard
First posted: Friday, March 21, 2014 08:18 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, March 21, 2014 08:26 PM EDT
HAMILTON, Ont. -- Roseanne Whalen was doing such a good job parenting her daughter Marissa, that a child protection agency ended its relationship with her 10 months before the toddler was killed.
But Family and Children's Services Niagara closed the file after nearly a year of contact, with a condition -- Whalen had to notify FACS if she reunited with her ex-girlfriend, Rainbow Hill.
The agency had concerns about Hill, a jury head Friday, but Whalen had parted ways with her months earlier and was living with her mother in Fort Erie, Ont.
"She described it as quiet and peaceful and she was very happy living at her mom's," testified Melanie Montgomery, a FACS family service worker assigned to the Whalen file, describing a visit she had June 11, 2010. Marissa was doing well.
"She was saying words. She looked happy and content," Montgomery said. "Roseanne was holding her. She appeared bonded."

Children's Services closed case 10 months before toddler was slain | Ontario | News | Toronto Sun

 

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Whalen's defence begins its case
By Karena Walter ,The Standard
First posted: Tuesday, April 01, 2014 08:09 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, April 01, 2014 08:17 PM EDT
ST. CATHARINES -- Roseanne Whalen spent a lot of her childhood alone and attaching herself to anyone who paid her attention, her cousin testified Tuesday.
"She just latched onto people and sometimes it wasn't the best people," Julie Collins told a jury in the second-degree murder trial of Whalen.
Whalen, 25, of Fort Erie, is in the third week of a jury trial in Hamilton. She has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her two-year-old daughter Marissa. Whalen's ex-girlfriend Rainbow Hill is serving time for her role in the death of the child, who was killed in the bathroom.
The toddler was killed on July 29, 2011 in her Fort Erie home but her remains weren't discovered until Oct. 16, 2011 in a remote area of Ohsweken, near Brantford.
Collins, the first witness to testify for the defence, said Whalen and her brother were left alone so often, an aunt and uncle took Whalen's 12-year-old brother in. But the couple couldn't take nine-year-old Whalen too because they had enough responsibility with a new baby. "She was alone once her brother was gone."
Lawyer Geoffrey Hadfield told jurors that the evidence, including from a clinical psychologist expected to testify Wednesday, will show that Whalen functions at a lower intellectual level than others.
"Roseanne is not like most people that you see on a day-to-day basis," he said. In a room of 1,000 people, he said, she'd be functioning at the lowest level.
Collins, who wears Marissa's ashes in a locket around her neck, broke down when talking about the girl she once offered to take while Whalen was pregnant.
"Marissa was the happiest baby. She was always smiling," Collins said. "She was happy."
The trial will continue Wednesday.
Twenty-three-year-old Roseanne Whalen . (Courtesy Niagara Falls Review)

Whalen's defence begins its case | Ontario | News | Toronto Sun

 

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Mom accused of killing tot incredibly low functioning, court hears
By Karena Walter ,The Standard
First posted: Wednesday, April 02, 2014 07:53 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, April 02, 2014 08:11 PM EDT
HAMILTON, Ont. — A psychologist testified a Fort Erie, Ont., woman accused of killing her toddler is low-functioning, highly gullible and a low risk for committing a future crime.
But the Crown hammered defence expert Dr. Giorgio Ilacqua Wednesday for not having watched or read transcripts of police interviews with Roseanne Whalen before writing a report that found she has the intelligence of an eight-year-old.
"We've sat through hours and hours of interviews where she played cat and mouse with the police. And if you'd bothered to watch those interviews, you'd have seen it too," assistant Crown attorney Timothy Hill fired in cross-examination the Hamilton, Ont., courthouse.
Whalen, 25, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her daughter Marissa, 2.
The jury has heard Whalen's girlfriend, Rainbow Hill, delivered a fatal injury to Marissa in the bathroom of the apartment they shared in Fort Erie on July 29, 2011.
Whalen, Rainbow Hi

Mom accused of killing tot incredibly low functioning, court hears | Canada | News | Toronto Sun