Woman pleads guilty to lesser charge in death of child

CTV Calgary: Day home operator pleads guilty A Calgary day home operator who was charged with second degree murder in the death of a 22-month-old girl, has pleaded guilty.

A Calgary woman has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a 21-month-old toddler who was in her care at a southeast day home back in 2012.

Mackenzy Woolfsmith was critically injured at a home on Elgin Heath S.E. on May 2 and died from her injuries the next day.

The medical examiner determined that the child died of multiple, blunt force trauma and Caitlin Jarosz was charged with second-degree murder in the death.

Jarosz initially told police that the child had fallen down the stairs but it was determined that the child’s injuries were inconsistent with that explanation and the Major Crimes Section took over the case.

On Monday, Jorosz pleaded guilty to manslaughter after a deal was reached between the defence and Crown.

“The evidence really was lining up that manslaughter would be the just and right verdict on this because it looked like it was a sudden burst of anger rather than something that was an intention to kill, which was the murder count. So there has to be that mindset that, that idea at the time they intended to kill Mackenzy Woolfsmith and really the evidence wasn’t lining up that way,” said Crown Prosecutor, Shane Parker.

“The agreed statement of facts talks about the different issues between murder and manslaughter and manslaughter is really an unlawful act, causing the death of this child was a very sensitive matter as you can understand with a little girl,” said defence attorney Alain Hepner. “It wasn’t a fall but one of the paragraphs deals with that very issue, exactly how it happened, it was the unlawful act, I think it’s paragraph 14, talks about what the judge accepted as the cause of death.”

Jarosz will now undergo a psychiatric assessment and is scheduled to be back in court in March.