Kevin and Tammy Goforth murder trial: what we know

After more than two weeks of witness testimony, the jury in the Kevin and Tammy Goforth trialis expected to hear final argumentson Feb.4 at Court of Queen's Bench in Regina.

CBC has brought you the latest from the trial since jury selection began Jan. 18.

Here's an outline of what hashappened so far in this trial.

• Accused Kevin Goforth says girls 'slender' not 'skinny' under cross-examination

• Accused Kevin Goforth testifies he 'fell in love at first sight' with girls

The charges

Kevin and Tammy Goforth are charged in the second-degree murder of a four-year-old girl who was in their care in Regina during the summer of 2012, when the couple rushed her to hospital in cardiac arrest.

The girl arrived in hospital malnourished, dehydrated and injured. She received a brain injury as a result of the heart attack and was taken off life support two days later.

Hours after the Goforths took thefour-year-old to hospital, Regina police say theywent to Tammy's mother's home and picked up the girl'syounger sister, who was also taken to hospital and treated for malnutrition, dehydration, and injuries. The two-year-old survived.

• The Goforths were initially charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm when the girls were taken to hospital during the night of July 31- Aug. 1,2012.Police said at the timethe girls were suffering from signs of abuse and neglect.
• They both faced new charges of manslaughter afterthe older girl died in hospital on Aug. 2, 2012.
• In January2014, provincial justice officialsstepped in to lay more serious charges of second-degree murder in the oldergirl's death, and unlawfully causing bodily harm to the two-year-old.Saskatchewan'sDeputy Attorney General and Deputy Minister of JusticeKevinFenwicksaid at the time thatofficials decided to upgrade the charges after a preliminary inquiry showed they were more appropriate charges.

Kevin and Tammy Goforth are now standing trial for second-degree murder of the four-year-old, and unlawfully causing bodily harm to her younger sister. We cannot name or identify the two girls because their identities are protected under a publication ban.

11 days, 20 witnesses

The trial has been dominated so far by information shared from the witness box for the past 11 days.

The Crown's evidence included information from:

• A social worker who placed the girls in 7 other homesbefore settling them under the Goforth's care.
• Two women who were caregiversto the girls in the past.
• Sixmembers of the Regina police.
• Three doctors.
• A registered nurse who was on duty in the Emergency Room when the older girl was admitted to hospital.
• A teenaged boy who had visited the Goforth home during the time when the girls lived there.
• A DNA expert.
• A forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on the four-year-old.

The defence presented evidence from witness accounts oftwo teenaged boys, and from Kevin and Tammy Goforththemselves.

Night of July 31, 2012: Goforths' perspective

Some of the most emotionally fraught testimony centred around the night the two girls were taken to hospital.

Something's wrong. Something's wrong. She's not answering.- Tammy Goforth testified in court

First, court heard extensively from police, doctors and a nurse who all had contact with the Goforths or their home that evening.

The police officers painted a picture of just how emergency responders came to be involved with the family, and how initial suspicions turned into searches, evidence collection and charges. The nurse spoke about their behaviour in the emergency room, and the doctors about what they observed on the girls.

Then, Kevin and TammyGoforth eachtook to the witness box andspoke about that evening from their perspective.

Kevin and Tammy Goforth both said the girls had been ill before that evening, and that Tammy had been feeling weak herself. The Goforthssaid they later learned Tammyis severely anemic, and Kevintestified that she requiredtwo blood transfusions to treat her anemia later in August 2012.

They said the girls had had diarrhea, and Tammy testified that she had "tried to give them liquids" for breakfast, lunch and supper.

Tammysaid she had fallen asleep on the couch. Kevinsaid he returned home from work that night,laid down in the living room, turned on the TV and fell asleep on another couch. A teenage boy who testified as a defence witness also said he was in the Goforth's home that night and was tired from a day of swimming, so he was playing video games in another room.

Tammysaid she woke up, sometime after 11 p.m. CSTand thought to herself that she had to go check on the girls.

Kevinsaid he awoke to what he called a"blood-letting scream" from Tammy in the little girls' room.

In cross examination, Tammy said the older girl was lying by the closet in the bedroom when she entered the room. She said the younger girl was sitting up in her bed.

I've never heard that scream before in my life. I knew something was different.- Kevin Goforth testified in court

Her voice broke and she had difficulty describing that night through her tears.

"I said, 'Something's wrong. Something's wrong. She's not answering,'"Tammytestified, crying.

Kevin, also crying from the witness box said, "I've never heard that scream before in my life. I knew something was different."

Both described wrapping the older girl in a sheet, leaving the home on Andrews Crescentand driving as quickly as they could down Winnipeg Street to get to the Emergency Room at Regina General Hospital.

Night of July 31-Aug 1, 2012: ERperspective

A registered nurse working in the emergency room the night the Goforths brought the older girl to hospital testifiedshe saw Tammy in the nursing area, "looking like she didn't know what to do,"so she took her back into a separate waiting room and asked her questions.

She testified that Goforth told her the young patient hadn't been eating or drinking for the past couple of days, and that she went to check on her because the child had been throwing her diaper around the room, and that she found her in the corner of the closet.

The nurse, Connie Garstin, said medical staff made the decision then to call police and mobile crisis at around midnight, after Tammy had informed them thatthe girl had a two-year-old sister.

"We were, at that point, thinking about possible child abuse or neglect, so we wanted to make sure no other children were in harm's way," she said.

In cross examination, Garstin told the jury that Kevin and Tammy were distraught, upset and crying in the emergency room, and that she didn't remember Kevintelling her anything.

Night of July 31- Aug 1, 2012: Police perspective

Six members of the Regina Police Service testified as witnesses presented by the Crown:

• Sgt. Derek Lamer who was dispatched to the General Hospital for the initial complaint of a possible assault against the older girl.
• Const. Kayla Dunford, who went to Regina General shortly after midnight to sit with the four-year-old girl overnight. She was relieved of that duty at 7 a.m. on Aug. 1.
• Const. Brittany Dunford, who was dispatched to look for children at the Goforths' home, and then stayed to hold the scene through the night until shortly after 6 a.m.
• Sgt. Shelly Sulymka, who attended Tammy's mother's home in the early hours of Aug. 1with mobile crisisto findand take the younger sister to hospital.
• Const.GarthFleece,who was part of a search of theGoforths'home.
• Const. Tyler Boynton who took evidence photos of the girls while they were in hospital.

Const. Brittany Dunford described arriving at the Goforthhome on Andrews Crescent shortly before 1:30 a.m. CST Aug.1. She said that as she arrived, she saw a blue Ford Ranger truck driving away from the home, with two males ridingin the front seats.

Dunford said she noted the plates and confirmed the vehiclebelonged to Tammy's father, and that the vehicle was heading northbound.

She testified that she knocked at the lockeddoors, then another officer obtained keys and they searched the home. There were no people inside. She observed a blanket was set up like a bed on the living room floor.

She testified that she exited the house at approximately 2:20 a.m. CST and stayed outside to make sure nobody went in the house.

In the witness box, Sgt. Shelly Sulymka said she went to Tammy Goforth's mother's home on6th Ave. N. at 2:45 a.m. CST, along with the mobile crisis unit. She said she saw the same blue Ford Ranger belonging to Tammy's father in the driveway. Sulymka said she entered a bedroom and found the two-year-old girl laying on her back on the bed.

She said thegirlwas "very thin, very frail," and that she noted "large bruising" on hereye and her cheek, damp hair,and a "large" bandage on her leg. She said the girl was not responding to people,and not blinking.

Evidence and DNA results

Const. GarthFleece testified that he searched the Goforths' home, and he was instructed to look specifically for "anything involving binding or restraints."

His testimony was especially difficult for relatives of the victims in the gallery, who cried and embraced one another as he donned latex gloves and physically showed the courtindividual items seized from the home, including the girls' clothing.

Among other items, he described seizing and documenting:

Strings on the outside of the girls' bedroom door.

Apparent blood on the wall behind the door and on a soiled piece of cardboard.

A pink piece of cloth in a loop with a knot at one point. The knot contained a large amount of darkhair.

Straps laying on top of a yellow furniture dolly.

A pair of pink pyjamas with duct tape stuck in them, that were found inside a cardboard box that was in the kitchen.

Small shirts.

A red mark spotted on the wall of the girls' room.

Two large pieces of cardboard on the bedroom floor, and another from the top bunk of two bunkbeds.

Painter's tape on the top bunk.

Duct tape, also containing hair.

A black cargo strap that was hanging from a white storage rack connected tothe basement roof.The strap had asingle hair on it.

A "large amount"of cardboard fromthe basement.

A forensic DNA expert's analysis tested the pyjama pants, two shirts, a swab of the wall, a piece of cardboard, the pink strip of fabric, painter's tape, and the black cargo strap.

First, he said his labcompared the items against the older girl's blood sample. Then, a sample was taken from the younger girl's cheek, and blood samples were takenfrom Kevin and Tammy Goforth.

• The pinkpyjama pants with duct tape matched the four-year-oldgirl, parts of the tape itselfmatched with Kevin Goforth.
• The hair on the cargo strap matched with the four-year-old girl. It also contained some animal hairs.
• Parts of the tape matched with Tammy Goforth and the four-year-old girl.
• A sample from the cardboard matched the younger girl.
• Material from the wall of the girls' room was never connected to anyone. The expert said it belonged to an unknown male.

Tears, raw emotions, police presence around courthouse

Tammy and Kevin Goforth have a large number of family members andsupporters talking and sitting with them in court every day. The mother of the two girls has also sat through nearly every moment of the trial along with supporters and other relatives.

Some parts of the testimony have been extremely difficult for members of the gallery,including when the police investigator unfurled some of the girls small, soiled clothes, and when doctors and lawyers discussed their injuries andtreatment, and photos from the older girl's autopsy.

One day, a woman sat sobbing clutchinga photo of the four-year-old in her lap.

On the first day, witnesses for the defence testifieda person exiting court yelled, presumably at the accused, "Yourf--king family killed them." He and a woman wereescorted outby sheriffs as court took a recess over the outburst.

The man continued confronting a supporter of Kevin and Tammy Goforth's outside the courtroom, which was audible to everyone inside.

People on both sides have been part of outbursts in open court, sometimes angry and other times tearful. Many people have sobbed through testimony in the gallery, on the dock and in the witness box, and each break leads to groups of people embracing one another. Kevin and Tammy Goforth have also cried in the courtroom.

Outside the courtroom, Kevin and Tammy Goforth have covered their faces as they arrive and leave courteach day. Members of the victims' family have held posters up outside the courtroom, and multiple police officersarrive most days and keep a close eye on entrances and exits.

Girls' lives before living with the Goforths

Court also heard from two women who were caregivers to the girls before they lived with the Goforths, and from the child protection worker who was assigned to their case.

Alicia Ward said the first contact between the girls and social services was Dec.31, 2009. She said police had received a call from someone who was babysitting the girls, saying their mother had gone out and didn't return home, and thatthe babysitter called police so she could leave.

Ward described her first contact with the girls then, and that they were pudgy children with full faces and full cheeks. S

he called them 'plump' and cute and said they were first placed with one foster mother on a short-notice basis during January 2010. Then they went to a second home from Feb. 3- Dec. 3, 2010. They were out of that housefor a few days in December, while the caregiver was ill in hospital. Then she said they returned to that home from Dec. 8, 2010-June 17, 2011.

From June 2011, they were placed in two other homes. Then they returned to the care of their first placement, before staying full-time with Kevin and Tammy Goforth beginning in November 2011.

Overall, she said the girls moved to sevendifferent homes, ninetimes in the 22monthsfrom January 2010 when they left their mother's care untilNovember 2011 when they began to stay full-time under the care of Kevin and Tammy Goforth.

In that time, Ward said she noticed duringvisits that the girls were growing, but they were still "full-faced, pudgy"girls. She also said she had a heavy caseload at the time, of around 25 cases, and was feeling swamped in her work.

She said the girls' mother had addiction issues during her pregnancies with both girls, but they were too young to be able to diagnose whether they had FASD or not. She said in the first five years, kids are examined for small head development, developmental delays and inability to adjust to change, but she didn't believe either girl showed those symptoms.

Ward also testified that she had read a document to the Goforthsabout responsibilities for the types of caregivers they were to the girls, known as Persons of Sufficient Interest. A document she brought to the prosecution was entered as evidence, and she said she read that same document toTammy Goforth over the phone. Under cross examination, however, the defence noted the document had a date on the corner of September 2012, and Ward confirmedthat she couldn't have read that document to Tammy Goforth.

She said she last saw the younger girlon Nov.8, 2011. She said both girls always had delays in speech and that Tammy had complained that the younger girl had wandered during the night in three weekend visits with the Goforths prior to the girls being placed with them.

Ward examined photos of the girls taken while they were in hospital and said of the older one it was in, "stark contrast" of how she had seen her last. She said when she last saw her she was plump and had a "little belly," but in hospital photos said "her face is gaunt, body is slender, you can see the bones in her shoulders."

She said of a photo of the younger girl taken in hospital, "She's more skinner in her face."

The first two women who cared for the girls after they left their mother's home had two different placements with the girls. They each testified about the girls looks, demeanour and eating habits while they lived in their homes. One woman said the girls would only refuse broccoli, but they had chubby cheeks and would "eat well". The second woman cried on the stand and looked at photos she had taken of the girls. She said she helped potty train the older girl, and that she took the kids to a doctor because they would get sick after they ate. She said the doctor told her she was overfeeding the girls.

Teen claims he witnessed girl being taped to wall by TammyGoforth

A boy who said he visited the Goforth house twice while the girls lived there testified that he sawTammy Goforth tapethe older girl's hands to thebasement wall.

He spoke softly, and said the girls were often locked in their room and he didn't see them eat during two weekend visits at the Goforths' home in 2012.

The boy said he was playing ball and found feces in a corner of the basement, and told Tammy Goforth. He said Goforth started taping the older girl's hands to the wall.

In cross examination, the defence challenged the boy on how he knew the girls were locked in their room if he didn't see them. Tammy's lawyer said directly, "You did not see this," and the boy answered, "Yes I did."

All four defence witnesses, including Kevin and Tammy Goforth, disputed the boy's claim and said he was lying. A photo album presented as evidence by the defence showed the boy in photos with the older girl and other relatives during a visit. One defence lawyer suggested the boy made up the story after a news crew visited his home, but the boy denied that.

Crown focuses onKevinGoforth'spolice statements

In cross examination, the Crown focused on statements Kevin Goforth made to police in the days after he took the older girl to hospital. Kevin said he was questioned at Regina police headquarters for two days.

In a transcript from that police statement dated Aug. 2, 2012, the Crown quoted a portion that said a sergeant asked Kevinwhen his wife reached a "breaking point," and read the answer from the transcript:

"I don't know, a couple of weeks ago. She just it seemed like it didn't seem like she cared anymore," the transcript said.

I don't know, a couple of weeks ago. She justit seemed likeit didn't seem like she cared anymore.- Kevin Goforthsaid in a police transcript quoted in court

Goforth said in the courtroom that he felt police were putting words in his mouth, and that he didn't really believe there was a breaking point.

The Crown read further from the same transcript, in a portion when the sergeant asked about the black cargo strap that was seized from Goforth's home:

Sergeant: "...What did you do with the strap?"
Kevin Goforth: "Just to restrain her."
Sergeant: "...How did you use the strap? Just explain it to me, OK?"
Kevin Goforth: "Just restrain. Her feet were tied together."

Responding in court, however, Kevin said he didn't know of any strap, and that he was just thinking about Tammy having taped mittens to the older girl's hands to stop her from scratching herself.

"I've never seen [older girl's] feet tied together," he said."That is a lie. I've never seen it. I've seen her hands with mittens and socks on and tape. That's it."

Goforth described the girls as slender, with high cheekbones when questioned by his own lawyer. In cross examination, he was read a portion of the transcript in which he described one or both of the girls as "skinny."

In court, he responded, "He's trying to get something out of me that's not there. I knew in my mind that the girls were skinny all the time. And I seen a few bruises."

The prosecutor challenged Goforth on admitting the girls were skinny, and he corrected himself.

"Not skinny they were slender," he said.

The Crown suggested Goforth and his wife had chosen the word "slender"as a strategy to "avoid the impression that they were skin and bone," but Goforth responded that it was not true, and that he was using his own words.

Defence focuses on eating habits, demeanour, health cards

In examining witnesses throughout the trial, Kevin and Tammy's defence lawyers focused at times on the demeanour of the girls, whether they fought with one another, and whether medical findings could be disputed if the girls had a history of vomiting after eating.

They also asked whether some of the girls' documented symptoms, including body hair on the younger girl that a doctor said is reminiscent of a symptom of anorexia nervosa, could be tied to FASD.

The defence presented family photos from the girls' time with the Goforths, including photos from a birthday party Tammy said she threw for the older girl in March2012. She said she didn't know the girl's real birthday but felt she should have a celebration. The girl was shown with a cake, gifts,and relatives of Tammy and Kevin Goforth in the photo book.

The defence also asked multiple witnesses about health cards, and the Goforths said they never had provincialhealth cards for the girls and phoned and asked their child protection worker,Ward, to get them, but never received them. She said she didn't think to ask for the girls' health numbers, and that she had to pay an additional amount to get treatment for the kids without health cards.

Tammy Goforth testified that she was receiving around $400 for each girl per month, but the money didn't come right away when they first took them in during November 2011.

The Goforths both testified that they didn't intend to hurt the girls, or to kill the older one, and they didn't refuse or deprive them of food.

Counsel'sclosing statements are expected to begin in the morning onFeb. 4.