'It was fairly bleak:' Man whose son died of meningitis testifies at trial

Ezekiel Stephan died in 2012 of meningitis that had developed from a lung infection.(Supplied)

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. - A father accused in his toddler son's death from bacterial meningitis told an Alberta courtroom Monday that he thought his son had the flu.

David Stephan was the first witness called by the defence in a trial he and his wife face in the death of their nearly 19-month-old boy. They are charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life.

Stephan says his wife, Collet, only mentioned the possibility of meningitis the night before Ezekiel stopped breathing and was rushed to hospital in March 2012.

Stephan said many of the symptoms overlapped with that of the flu.

He and his wife received a grim prognosis when Ezekiel was examined at the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary. An examination showed the child had undergone seizures and that there was very little brain activity.

"It was fairly bleak and (the doctor) said it was rare that a child would come out of a situation like this. They didn't completely shatter our hope. She said there was always hope," Stephan said.

"Even if there was an inkling of hope we were going to hold on to that."

The Stephans were trying to help the doctors determine what was wrong with Ezekiel.

"We were trying to give them any clue they could possibly use that we had observed that would help them determine what had taken place, and what would help them to rectify the situation," he testified.

"The hope was if they could qualify it as meningitis they would be able to treat it quickly and Ezekiel would eventually be able to regain his health."

The Crown says the couple didn't do enough to make sure Ezekiel received the treatment he required.

The trial in Lethbridge has already heard that the boy had been sick for about 2 1/2 weeks, and his parents gave him natural remedies and homemade smoothies containing hot pepper, ginger root, horseradish and onion.

After being taken to a local facility, Ezekiel was rushed to the Calgary hospital, where he died a week later from bacterial meningitis and a lung infection.

In earlier testimony, a pediatrician said Ezekiel had less than a one per cent chance of surviving by the time he was taken to hospital and was probably already brain dead.

Stephan said he grew alarmed after several interviews with doctors when it appeared that there was a belief he and his wife might have had something to do with their son's condition.

"It was in regard to brain damage that had taken place ... and the question was posed in such a way that I was left thinking that there was suspicion."

He added that they were not the kind of parents "who would abuse" their child.