Mother breaks down in tears during testimony at trial of father charged in infant's death

A mother broke down in the witness box on Monday as she looked at photos of her now deceased, three-month-old son on the first day of the Winnipeg trial against the baby's father.

Evelyn Gillis spoke through tears at times on Monday morning while testifying in the trial of Mathieu Moreau, who faces manslaughter and aggravated assault charges in connection with the death of infant Maven Gillis Moreau in January 2020. 

Moreau, who sat in court during Monday's proceedings, has pleaded not guilty.

Court heard Gillis, 26, and Moreau, 34, were Maven's parents, and lived together in a Winnipeg apartment at the time of his death.

In testimony before Court of King's Bench Justice Sadie Bond, Gillis testified on Monday that in the weeks before their son died, Maven was injured multiple times while Moreau was watching him on his own.

That included an incident about a month before the infant died, when Gillis returned home from running an errand to find Maven had a bruised nose and dried blood around his nostrils. She said Moreau told her the injury happened when his hand slipped while giving the baby a bath.

She broke down crying on Monday when shown photos she took of those injuries to her son, whom she remembered as "a really happy baby" who woke up every morning with the biggest smile on his face.

"I miss that," Gillis said through tears to Crown attorney Jennifer Mann.

In another incident a day before Maven died, Gillis testified, she returned home and found the baby had a puffy upper lip and saw blood inside his mouth from a torn frenulum (the connective tissue in the mouth) after Moreau had been watching him.

After that incident, she said she took Maven to the Health Sciences Centre Children's Emergency Department, where the doctor who examined him gave her Tylenol for infants, but was not able to tell her definitively what might have caused the injury.

She said while Moreau told her their son had been chewing on an elephant toy in their apartment, that toy "was all rounded edges," so she didn't understand how that explanation could have accounted for the injury he suffered. 

Gillis said she also trimmed Maven's fingernails a few times a week, so she didn't think him cutting himself with his own nails could have been the cause either.

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Bruce Bonney challenged parts of Gillis's testimony, including whether Maven was able to pick things up on his own and whether it was possible he had cut himself with his fingernails the day before he died.

Maven was found unconscious on Jan. 11, 2020, in the couple's Winnipeg apartment while Moreau was watching him, court heard. He was rushed to hospital and put on life support, but later died.