Six Years in Prison

Thursday, 9 January 2014 15:56

Melissa Garland sentenced for involvement in the death of 5 month old Brooklyn Hopkins of Ingersoll

It's six years in prison for a crime the judge called reckless and extreme.

43 year old Melissa Garland pleaded guilty to manslaughter back in November in the August 2010 death of five month old Brooklyn Hopkins.

In Garland's agreed to confession that was read in court, 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.

The five month old's mother Jessica Ryan read a victim impact statement before sentencing stating she lost her oldest child for a period of time to the Children's Aid Society because of false accusations made by Garland and that she now has trust issues and cannot leave her children with anyone other than immediate family which is causing a strain on her marriage.

While the judge was unconvinced Garland was remorseful as she kept calling the incident an accident, and that he felt she cared more about herself than the baby by trying to cover up what had happened, based on parody law, he sentenced her to six years in prison minus 57 days already spent in custody on a one for one basis. Garland has also been ordered to give a DNA sample and is banned from owning any weapons for the rest of her life.