Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
National

Pastor Tells Toronto Murder Trial Of Confession That Led To Break In Case

The Canadian Press, 10 May, 2016 11:48 AM
    TORONTO — An Ontario pastor is telling the trial of a woman accused in the death of her stepdaughter about a confession that led to a break in a homicide case that lay unsolved for years.
     
    Rev. Eduardo Cruz says Elaine Biddersingh came to him in November 2011 and told him about the death of her stepdaughter, Melonie.
     
    He says Biddersingh told him about how Melonie came from Jamaica to live in the family home in Toronto.
     
    Cruz says Biddersingh told him Melonie was confined, denied food, water and medical attention before she died.
     
    Biddersingh has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Melonie, whose body was found in a burning suitcase in an industrial parking lot north of Toronto in 1994.
     
    Melonie's identity remained a mystery until 2011, when Cruz went to police after his conversation with Biddersingh.
     
    "I said 'what you're telling me is very serious and I need to know if it's the truth,'" Cruz recalled for the court. "She said 'pastor, it's 100 per cent true.'"
     
    A DNA test confirmed Melonie's identity in 2012, and Biddersingh and her husband were arrested, court heard.
     
    The trial has heard from a Crown prosecutor that Biddersingh was the "mastermind" behind horrific physical and emotional abuse suffered by Melonie, while her husband was the enforcer.
     
    The jury has heard that Melonie and two brothers came to Toronto from Jamaica to live with their father and stepmother.
     
    The children were not sent to school and over time, were treated like slaves, the court has heard.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Health Canada Moving Quickly To Regulate Dangerous Opioid Drug W-18

    Health Canada Moving Quickly To Regulate Dangerous Opioid Drug W-18
    Health Canada says it is moving quickly to include the dangerous synthetic opioid W-18 under the federal Controlled Drug and Substances Act but maintains the drug is already illegal under another law.

    Health Canada Moving Quickly To Regulate Dangerous Opioid Drug W-18

    Grandfather Of Toddler Who Died From Meningitis Says Boy Lethargic, Not Ill

    Anthony Stephan is the father of David Stephan, who along with wife Collet, are charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life for their 18-month-old son Ezekiel.

    Grandfather Of Toddler Who Died From Meningitis Says Boy Lethargic, Not Ill

    CBSA Arrests Man, 29, Posing As High School Basketball Player In Windsor, Ont.

    CBSA Arrests Man, 29, Posing As High School Basketball Player In Windsor, Ont.
    The Canadian Border Services Agency says Jonathan Nicola was arrested this week for contravening the Immigration Refugee Protection Act.

    CBSA Arrests Man, 29, Posing As High School Basketball Player In Windsor, Ont.

    B.C. Conservation Officer Service Says Policy Review Into Bear Cubs Rescue Coming

    B.C. Conservation Officer Service Says Policy Review Into Bear Cubs Rescue Coming
    VANCOUVER — British Columbia's Conservation Officer Service says an internal policy review related to last year's high-profile case of an officer refusing to euthanize two orphaned bear cubs will soon be complete.

    B.C. Conservation Officer Service Says Policy Review Into Bear Cubs Rescue Coming

    Plaintiffs Ask Judge To Allow Patients Covered By Old Law To Grow Their Own Pot

    Plaintiffs Ask Judge To Allow Patients Covered By Old Law To Grow Their Own Pot
    Canadians who won the constitutional right to grow their own medical marijuana are going back to court to ask a judge to change the decision, allowing those excluded from an injunction to immediately start growing their own.

    Plaintiffs Ask Judge To Allow Patients Covered By Old Law To Grow Their Own Pot

    Unions And Families Call For Asbestos Ban: 'Why Let Proven Killer Walk Free?'

    OTTAWA — Trade unions and affected family members say it's long past time to ban all asbestos products in Canada, calling them the country's number one workplace killer.

    Unions And Families Call For Asbestos Ban: 'Why Let Proven Killer Walk Free?'