Sentencing hearing for woman who murdered friend’s toddler inside the Children’s Aid Society

Warning: This story contains content that may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.

Standing at the front of a packed courtroom, Yverson Belotte told a judge how the murder of his three-year-old has robbed him of his only child who should have been alive today and would have been six.

“He was supposed to be there asking me millions of questions and turning my hair grey,” said Belotte.

A giant photo of his son Yverson Belotte Junior, also known as Quintanni or Quinn, was held by his girlfriend over his shoulder as he spoke passionately about his son.

“I don’t think you have a capability to understand you have committed an evil crime,” said Belotte, addressing the boy’s killer.

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In February, Shardanae Cousins-Emily was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder after a three-week trial.

On December 2, 2023, Cousins-Emily, who was then 22, took Quintanni, whom she was taking care for the weekend, to the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) on Isabella Street. She was going there for a supervised visit with her own son.

After visiting her own son, Cousins-Emily took Quintanni into the washroom on the main floor of the CAS building. She emerged more than an hour later. A security guard testified he noticed a bump on the child’s head when Cousins-Emily came out of the washroom and offered to get medical help for the child. She declined.

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The following day, the boy died. The cause of death was blunt force trauma.

The boy’s mother, Shania John, cried as she spoke about her son, whom she had just after her 18th birthday.

“I am hurting. I am broken. I don’t know what to say because I still cannot believe this,” said John through tears.

John said that she and Cousins-Emily had met at the age of 12, saying they were roommates and foster sisters.

“I believed she understood the pain and the loss and what it meant to come from difficult circumstances. I never imagined the person I trusted so deeply would take my son’s life,” John told court.

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John said people she doesn’t know have called her “a bad mother” telling court, she doesn’t need to defend herself.

Assistant Crown attorney Carime Boehr told Superior Court Justice Kelly Byrne that an appropriate period of parole ineligibility for Cousins-Emily would be 18 years. Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence. The judge must decide on a period of parole ineligibility between 10 and 25 years.

Boehr said that Quintanni was helpless and alone when he was taken into the washroom of the CAS where no one could intervene.

“It was an exceptional breach of trust. The mother believed Cousins-Emily would care for her child. Instead, she betrayed Ms. John’s trust by launching a savage attack on Quintanni,” said Boehr.

The crown also said the beating must have lasted for period of time given the nature and number of injuries to Quintanni’s body.

“Two of his teeth were ripped out and perhaps most disturbing, this little child suffered what appeared to be defensive wounds,” added Boehr.

“I ask your honour to consider his terror, fear and pain as this was occurring and consider this a significant aggravating factor,” said Boehr, The Crown also pointed out that Cousin-Emily tried to clean up the scene to conceal it and for her own self-preservation.

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Defence lawyers Roger Rowe and Jacob Stilman argued for a 15-year period of parole ineligibility.

Stilman disagreed with the Crown who argued that Cousins-Emily was not remorseful, pointing out that she tried to plead guilty to manslaughter at the outset of the trial but the Crown rejected that plea and decided to proceed with the murder charge.

“This is a brutal gut-wrenching case. We are not trying to minimize the grief that our client’s actions have caused and obviously the brutality of it,” said Stilman.

The last word was given to Cousins-Emily. “I just want to say I’m sorry,” she said softly.

Justice Byrne is expected to sentence Cousins-Emily later this month.