A witness broke down during the first day of a manslaughter trial, as she demanded the accused admit he had a role in the death of his 11-week-old daughter.
Keifer Mecas, 34, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the 2016 death of his daughter, Haelin Taylor, in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.
Virden RCMP previously said they got a report on Jan. 4, 2016, of an infant in medical distress at a home on the First Nation, about 40 kilometres west of Brandon, Man.
The baby was taken to hospital in critical condition but died from her injuries, RCMP said. They deemed her death a homicide, and Mecas was charged in January 2023.
On Wednesday, the first day of his judge-only trial at Court of King’s Bench in Brandon, Crown witness Crystal Taylor, 39, pleaded with Mecas multiple times from the witness box, at times struggling to speak through tears.
“Just admit it, Keifer — tell them what you did to baby,” Taylor cried. “You’re sitting there looking proud that you hurt her. Admit it, confess — tell them what you did.”
Mecas did not respond.
‘My mind just went blank,’ mother testifies
She told court that she and Haelin’s mother, Kara Taylor, are cousins, but are as close as sisters. She said Haelin seemed healthy before Jan. 4, 2016.
Crystal Taylor told Judge Scott Abel that on that day, she was attending a memorial in the community with her mother and Kara, 35, when they got a phone call from Mecas saying Haelin was not breathing right, and that he couldn’t call 911.
Crystal said she called 911 immediately as they raced to Kara’s home.
Kara Taylor, Wednesday’s last witness, was brought to court under a warrant.
She said when they arrived at the home, they found Mecas holding Haelin’s limp body. She couldn’t tell if her daughter was breathing, but she didn’t see any injuries, she testified.
“My mind just went blank after I just seen her laying there in his arms,” she said through tears. “She wasn’t even awake, she wasn’t even crying.”
Crystal Taylor also began to cry as she testified they arrived to find Mecas walking around, doing nothing to help his daughter.
“He didn’t give a f–k about what was going on,” as Haelin’s lips turned blue and she struggled to breathe, she testified.
Everyone was panicked as they talked with 911, she told court. They quickly jumped in the car, and Mecas and Kara performed CPR on Haelin as they raced to meet an ambulance on the highway.
“It hurts to think about doing CPR on a little baby,” Crystal told the court.
As she testified, her aunt came up to offer to hold her and rub her back.
Crystal told court they followed the ambulance to the ER in Brandon. Haelin was airlifted to the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, where she died on Jan. 23.
‘I’m sorry I hurt her’
Crystal and Kara gave three statements to police after Haelin’s death, including a statement after they alleged they heard Mecas at a party in 2021 confess to hurting the baby.
Crystal told the court that she heard the confession while he and Kara were arguing.
Kara told the court she wasn’t initially sure who Mecas was referring to.
“Everybody started to get drunk, and that’s when Keifer started crying,” Kara testified. “We were asking what was wrong, and he said, ‘I’m sorry I hurt her.'”
She eventually came to believe he meant Haelin, leading her to call the police in 2022.
Defence lawyer Andrew Synyshyn asked if animosity had built up between different sides of the family since Haelin’s death nine years ago. Crystal denied that, saying she doesn’t really talk to Mecas’s family.
He also noted Mecas and Kara Taylor had three more children after Haelin’s death, and asked if it was possible one of them was the baby he referred to at the 2021 party.
“You’re doing what you can to make Mr. Mecas look guilty,” Synyshyn said.
Crystal insisted he was referring to Haelin.
She became visibly frustrated as Synyshyn grilled her about conflicting statements, and whether her story had changed across the different statements to police and courts — especially with respect to Mecas’s reaction to the baby’s medical distress.
Crystal began crying and asked to leave the court, and in an outburst, called on Mecas to admit to wrongdoing, accusing him of showing no remorse.
A short recess was called as she began visibly shaking and was escorted outside the courtroom.
When she returned, Synyshyn asked her to clarify her statements about Mecas’s reaction. She responded that she didn’t want to answer any more questions, and asked to leave before imploring Mecas again to confess.
“You’re still sitting there, no remorse,” Crystal cried.
The trial resumes Thursday. It is scheduled for six days.
