Father accused of killing baby in 2020 says he didn't hurt infant on night he was rushed to Winnipeg hospital

A Winnipeg father accused of killing his infant son insisted at his trial Wednesday that he didn't do anything to hurt the three-month-old the night in 2020 when the baby was rushed to hospital.

Mathieu Moreau, 34, held back tears as he described waking up from a nap to find his son, Maven Gillis Moreau, making a gurgling noise in his crib as infant formula came out of his mouth and bubbled from his nose, just before the baby was taken to hospital on Jan. 11, 2020.

Moreau, who is charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault in his son's death, testified that he immediately picked up the baby and started burping him, but could tell he was having a hard time breathing.

He said he then put the baby down on his changing table and called his partner's parents, who lived nearby, before calling 911 — which Moreau said he should have done first.

"I didn't know how bad and severe Maven was at that time," he said, adding he was "honestly just in shock."

But prosecutor Jennifer Mann painted a different picture, accusing Moreau of shaking Maven when the infant wouldn't go to sleep — because the father was exhausted after a long week of juggling two jobs, and frustrated he'd had to come home from working on a song with his band to watch his son before the band was finished recording.

"You slammed him, feet first [into the crib]," Mann said to Moreau during a lengthy cross-examination in a King's Bench courtroom, where Justice Sadie Bond is presiding.

Mann alleged the baby hit the crib on the way in, which caused the injuries that led to his death.

"You thought to yourself, 'I don't want to deal with this.' You chucked him in his crib, sir, and you thought to yourself, 'I'll just deal with you later.'"

WATCH | Video of baby who died in 2020 shown in court:

Videos of baby who died in 2020 shown during trial of Winnipeg father accused of manslaughter

1 year ago

Duration 1:41

Mathieu Moreau, 34, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault in connection with the death of his three-month-old son. Maven Gillis-Moreau was put on life support and later died after being found unconscious while Moreau was watching him in their Winnipeg apartment in January 2020.

The prosecutor said there was "absolutely no evidence" that the baby's fatal injuries were caused accidentally.

Mann also suggested Moreau called the parents of his partner, Evelyn Gillis, instead of calling Gillis herself, because he was afraid to tell the mother of his child what he did — and that he'd also intentionally injured the baby out of frustration on two other occasions before Maven died.

Moreau said one of those incidents, which left the infant with two black eyes, was an accident where the baby slipped during a bath. He assumed the other — where Maven had a torn frenulum, which is the connective tissue in the mouth — was caused by a toy he said he found saliva on, he testified.

Moreau, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, denied each of Mann's suggestions.

"I never purposely hurt my son," he said. "That never happened."

Accused denies grandmother's claim

Under questioning from his lawyer, Bruce Bonney, Moreau again denied ever doing anything to harm the baby intentionally or out of frustration.

He also said he didn't recall an incident the baby's maternal grandmother, Micheline Gillis, told court about earlier this month, when she said she heard Moreau say police "better not pin this on me" while their family was in the hospital with Maven on Jan. 11, 2020.

"I don't remember saying that. It's quite possible I might have felt that way at that time, but I don't remember," Moreau said.

He also said he didn't remember another incident the baby's grandmother told court about. When asked if she had any concerns about Moreau as a parent, she said she once saw him pick the baby up off the floor in his car seat in a way she described as "a bit abrupt."

Moreau said he has no recollection of ever doing anything like that.

Bonney had previously accused Micheline Gillis of deliberately trying to remember things that would cast Moreau in a negative light during the trial — including the car seat incident, a memory she said had just resurfaced in recent weeks.

Moreau's trial, which began on March 4, will continue with closing arguments on Friday.