Jem Mipities, and | would like to speak on behalf of his maternal family; his grandparents, who loved and raised him, his sister, his uncles and aunts, his cousins, and the entire community of which he was a part from the moment he was born til the day he left with his father in 2009, Our nightmare began in November of 2009. This was an especially bleak period for us when ii ailing mother passed away before a heart transplant could be performed. Although we tried to make her final weeks peaceful, we all ved with the apprehension that fap eventual transition to his father would be fraught with confit I remember the harrowing period shortly after she died, when it became clear that D would not allow us contact i ae uncles tried so hard to help his grandmother obtain access. éjiyjuncie and sister brought her here, from Montreal, to Family Court in the midst of a raging winter storm for the right to simply maintain contact with dij She was wheelchair bound, she was so weak. We were dumbstruck by the decision that allowed D to lawfully eradicate this litle boy's family from his life, without ever having met with the family or spoken withgi This was a devastating loss for us and for i It was such a sad time. Even though she is no longer here, we wanted his heartbroken grandmother's voice to be heard. We did, though, have one small consolation, and it was S. Although we did not know you well, you ‘seemed gentle and caring. We were further comforted by the revelation that you had Adopted and made him your own. We hoped that as your family grew, d@jmight eventually have siblings. We hoped that his being part of a new growing family would help him fil the void that was left when he was so abruptly taken from his family. For 3 years we wondered how he was progressing. Did he still love soccer and was he stil playing? Was he happy and healthy? Was he doing well in school? We remember leaving him messages on his birthday, knowing he would never get them. Did you ever hear them S$? Did you ever hear when we tried, in the beginning, to reason with D and how he reminded us that he had "won" and there would be no contact or news whatsoever? You gave fj 2 brothers. He misses them. He used to speak of them often. Now he barely mentions them unless he is asked. There is a resigned sadness, an unspoken acknowledgment that this is simply one more consequence, another punishment for a crime in which he was the victim. Itwas so distressing for us to watch helplessly as @@gwas subjected to days of testifying, reliving his horror and defending himself against the suggestion that this was somehow all his doing. We cannot shield him from the details ofthis tral, and eventually he will learn that his mom, his protector, never spoke. For him, your silence will be the final, ear-piercing screech of a mother abandoning her child. One more deep and lasting wound. ‘The enormity of the assaults inflicted on if, both physically and mentally, have left us stunned, devastated and worn out. The gui, the shame, and the strain of this tral have forever changed our family During the trial we discovered that you were, by all accounts, a strong, intelligent woman; ‘We cannot grasp how you could have allowed this to happen and why you didn't act. There are so many questions that consume us. We wonder if you would have allowed D to hurt your two sons. We imagine you preparing supper and having a meal with your husband and sons while our baby lay battered and starving in the basement. We picture you tucking your boys snugly in bed at night in their beautiful rooms filled with toys while ilplay alone in the dark, night after night, naked and shivering, shackled on a cold cement floor. You adopted @jf. He was one of your babies too. It is beyond ‘our comprehension. When you smile upon your children’s faces, we wonder, do you remember beautiful dark eyes pleading for your help? ‘You were the only other adult i) hell. You were the only one who knew what was happening. You were the only one who could have rescued him. You knew he had a heartbroken loving family from whom, he had been isolated. Your absolute and total betrayal of your baby, our baby, has left us shattered.