Judge lifts pub ban on name of mom accused of killing daughter
By Chris Doucette, Toronto Sun First posted: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 11:45 AM EST | Updated: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 06:01 PM EST
BRAMPTON - A Mississauga mother and the three-year-old daughter she’s accused of beating to death in 2011 can once again be named in the media, a judge has ruled.
At the request of Crown and defence lawyers, aiming to protect the accused killer’s surviving kids, Justice Deena Baltman imposed a publication ban Jan. 12 that prevented the media from identifying Nandini Jha, 37, and her slain child, Niyati.
But after hearing submissions in a Brampton courtroom Wednesday from media lawyers opposed to the broad ban, the judge chose to vary the court order so only the identities of the surviving children are protected.
In reaching her conclusion, Baltman said she turned to last month’s decision by Justice John Sproat, who faced a similar dilemma and ultimately narrowed a ban to allow the naming of Sean and Maria Hosannah — a Brampton couple convicted of manslaughter last fall for the death of their two-year-old daughter Matinah.
Baltman, who had to deal with the pub ban issue before Nandini’s murder trial could resume, said she agrees with a comment made by her colleague.
“The routine granting of publication bans on the identity of adult accused persons and offenders would be a radical change in the law,” Sproat stated in his decision. “If a publication ban is necessary in this case it would be necessary in any case in which a heinous crime was committed by a person with children and an uncommon surname.”
Baltman also pointed out in the Jha case, unlike the Hosannah case, Nandini and Niyati’s names and photos had appeared widely in the media prior to the ban.
And she said banning publication of the identities of the accused and the victim would have “little benefit” at this point.
Sun Media lawyer Tycho Manson, of Chernos Flaherty Svonkin LLP, applauded Baltman’s decision.
“The open-court principle is a cornerstone of Canada’s constitutional democracy,” Manson said. “As Justice Baltman said in her reasons, it’s fundamental to maintaining citizens’ confidence in the justice system.
“Discretionary publication bans are a departure from that principle, so it’s absolutely essential that they should meet the very stringent legal tests that have been developed,” Manson added. “The default should be openness, and this decision is a victory for that principle.”
Nandini Jha, right, has been charged with murdering her three-year-old daughter. (Facebook photo)
Judge lifts pub ban on name of mom accused of killing daughter | Toronto & GTA |
Tot's injuries suggest severe head trauma, doctor testifies
By Chris Doucette, Toronto Sun First posted: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 08:13 PM EST | Updated: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 09:08 PM EST
BRAMPTON - A three-year-old girl was already in bad shape when she arrived at a Mississauga hospital, her mother’s second-degree murder trial heard Wednesday.
By the time Niyati Jha arrived with her mom, her back was arched, her legs were stiffened straight and her arms were seized in an odd position with her elbows and wrists bent sharply so her hands were raised to her chest, testified Dr. Anita Aggarwal, who was working in the emergency room when Nandini Jha brought her daughter to Trillium Health Centre on Sept. 20, 2011, the day before Niyati died.
“Her pupils were thick and dilated, there was dried blood on her left ear and she had two abrasions and swelling on her mid to left forehead,” Aggarwal recalled.
The symptoms suggested the tot, who was in a coma but still breathing, had suffered “a severe” head or brain trauma, she told the trial, which began Feb. 9 and is expected to last many weeks.
Nandini Jha, 37, said a shelf had fallen on Niyati a few weeks earlier, the doctor testified.
“(But) up until the time I had seen her, the child had apparently been fine,” Aggarwal said, recalling that conversation for the jury of eight woman and four men.
Nandini said she took her daughter to a walk-in clinic following the incident with the shelf and was sent home with instructions to apply Polysporin to Niyati’s wounds, Aggarwal testified.
Nandini said her daughter was at home in their basement apartment eating when she “suddenly” lost consciousness and began stiffening up. Nandini took her back to the walk-in clinic and staff there immediately called 911, Aggarwal said.
Paramedics rushed Niyati to Trillium and a couple hours later she was flown by air ambulance to Sick Kids hospital in Toronto, where she remained on life-support until she died the next day of a complex skull fracture.
After an extensive nine-month investigation, Peel Regional Police arrested the girl’s mother and charged her with second-degree murder.
Nandini, has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is out on bail. She sat quietly next to her lawyers Wednesday wearing a peach blouse with a black scarf draped around her neck.
The trial resumes Thursday.
Nandini Jha is charged with second-degree murder in the death of her three-year-old daughter, Niyati. (Facebook photo)
Tot's injuries suggest severe head trauma, doctor testifies | Toronto & GTA | Ne
By Chris Doucette, Toronto Sun First posted: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 11:45 AM EST | Updated: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 06:01 PM EST
BRAMPTON - A Mississauga mother and the three-year-old daughter she’s accused of beating to death in 2011 can once again be named in the media, a judge has ruled.
At the request of Crown and defence lawyers, aiming to protect the accused killer’s surviving kids, Justice Deena Baltman imposed a publication ban Jan. 12 that prevented the media from identifying Nandini Jha, 37, and her slain child, Niyati.
But after hearing submissions in a Brampton courtroom Wednesday from media lawyers opposed to the broad ban, the judge chose to vary the court order so only the identities of the surviving children are protected.
In reaching her conclusion, Baltman said she turned to last month’s decision by Justice John Sproat, who faced a similar dilemma and ultimately narrowed a ban to allow the naming of Sean and Maria Hosannah — a Brampton couple convicted of manslaughter last fall for the death of their two-year-old daughter Matinah.
Baltman, who had to deal with the pub ban issue before Nandini’s murder trial could resume, said she agrees with a comment made by her colleague.
“The routine granting of publication bans on the identity of adult accused persons and offenders would be a radical change in the law,” Sproat stated in his decision. “If a publication ban is necessary in this case it would be necessary in any case in which a heinous crime was committed by a person with children and an uncommon surname.”
Baltman also pointed out in the Jha case, unlike the Hosannah case, Nandini and Niyati’s names and photos had appeared widely in the media prior to the ban.
And she said banning publication of the identities of the accused and the victim would have “little benefit” at this point.
Sun Media lawyer Tycho Manson, of Chernos Flaherty Svonkin LLP, applauded Baltman’s decision.
“The open-court principle is a cornerstone of Canada’s constitutional democracy,” Manson said. “As Justice Baltman said in her reasons, it’s fundamental to maintaining citizens’ confidence in the justice system.
“Discretionary publication bans are a departure from that principle, so it’s absolutely essential that they should meet the very stringent legal tests that have been developed,” Manson added. “The default should be openness, and this decision is a victory for that principle.”
Nandini Jha, right, has been charged with murdering her three-year-old daughter. (Facebook photo)
Judge lifts pub ban on name of mom accused of killing daughter | Toronto & GTA |
Tot's injuries suggest severe head trauma, doctor testifies
By Chris Doucette, Toronto Sun First posted: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 08:13 PM EST | Updated: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 09:08 PM EST
BRAMPTON - A three-year-old girl was already in bad shape when she arrived at a Mississauga hospital, her mother’s second-degree murder trial heard Wednesday.
By the time Niyati Jha arrived with her mom, her back was arched, her legs were stiffened straight and her arms were seized in an odd position with her elbows and wrists bent sharply so her hands were raised to her chest, testified Dr. Anita Aggarwal, who was working in the emergency room when Nandini Jha brought her daughter to Trillium Health Centre on Sept. 20, 2011, the day before Niyati died.
“Her pupils were thick and dilated, there was dried blood on her left ear and she had two abrasions and swelling on her mid to left forehead,” Aggarwal recalled.
The symptoms suggested the tot, who was in a coma but still breathing, had suffered “a severe” head or brain trauma, she told the trial, which began Feb. 9 and is expected to last many weeks.
Nandini Jha, 37, said a shelf had fallen on Niyati a few weeks earlier, the doctor testified.
“(But) up until the time I had seen her, the child had apparently been fine,” Aggarwal said, recalling that conversation for the jury of eight woman and four men.
Nandini said she took her daughter to a walk-in clinic following the incident with the shelf and was sent home with instructions to apply Polysporin to Niyati’s wounds, Aggarwal testified.
Nandini said her daughter was at home in their basement apartment eating when she “suddenly” lost consciousness and began stiffening up. Nandini took her back to the walk-in clinic and staff there immediately called 911, Aggarwal said.
Paramedics rushed Niyati to Trillium and a couple hours later she was flown by air ambulance to Sick Kids hospital in Toronto, where she remained on life-support until she died the next day of a complex skull fracture.
After an extensive nine-month investigation, Peel Regional Police arrested the girl’s mother and charged her with second-degree murder.
Nandini, has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is out on bail. She sat quietly next to her lawyers Wednesday wearing a peach blouse with a black scarf draped around her neck.
The trial resumes Thursday.
Nandini Jha is charged with second-degree murder in the death of her three-year-old daughter, Niyati. (Facebook photo)
Tot's injuries suggest severe head trauma, doctor testifies | Toronto & GTA | Ne