Garland Guilty

Wednesday, 13 November 2013 at 11:10

Ingersoll woman admits to unlawful acts, causing the death of the infant girl she was babysitting

Melissa Garland showed little emotion today in court as she pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a 5-month-old baby girl.

Garland pleaded guilty to an unlawful act that caused the death of Brooklyn Hopkins.

Garland was babysitting Hopkins in August of 2010, for Jessica Ryan and Richard Hopkins, who lived in the same townhouse complex in Ingersoll.

In Garland's agreed to confession (written 2-weeks-ago) that was read in court today, she claims her cat ran between her legs as she held Brooklyn at the top of her stairs. When she reached out to grab the railing, Brooklyn fell from her arms and tumbled down the stairs, hitting the middle landing and continued to the main floor. Garland described Brooklyn as "softly whimpering" when she picked her up.

Garland then took Brooklyn to the kitchen to place a cold cloth on her forehead. For some unknown reason, Garland a few minutes later described holding Brooklyn in her arms and spinning her "like an airplane ride", and she became "disoriented and dizzy" and let go of Brooklyn. The infant hit either a desk or a wall 6-feet away.

At that point, the baby was unresponsive, and Garland rushed the baby out of the house, without her keys or shoes, hysterical, and was taken to hospital by someone who happened to be outside at the time.

After arriving at Ingersoll's Hospital, Brooklyn was rushed to London's Victoria hospital, but her head injuries were so severe, the infant had to be taken off of life support the following day.

Autopsy revealed Brooklyn Hopkins had suffered four skull fractures.

The Crown says during interviews with police, Garland gave a series of excuses for the infant's death, saying Brooklyn had became submerged in water while having a bath, a bag was placed over the infant's head during her bath, she had banged her head on the couch, or had dropped the baby down the stairs.

In Garland's confession statement, she also admitted that while giving Brooklyn a bath she left to check on a commotion her son was making downstairs, and also took time to have a cigarette. When she went back to check on Brooklyn, she was face down in the water. The autopsy report never revealed trauma consistent with drowning.

Garland will be back in court on January 9th, 2014 for a sentencing hearing.