By Canadian Press

Delay in Calgary first-degree murder trial for parents in diabetic teen’s death

Sep 12, 2016 | 2:15 AM

CALGARY — The defence in a trial for parents of a teenage boy who died of starvation and complications from untreated diabetes on Monday asked for a brief delay to decide if it will call a witness.

One of the lawyers for Emil Radita, 59, and his 54-year-old wife, Rodica Radita, told Justice Karen Horner the defence needed until Tuesday to speak with a potential witness in the first-degree murder trial.

“We do plan to speak to one of the potential witnesses who’s underage,” said Andrea Serink. “She has a care team working with her and they’ve advised that she won’t be ready until (Tuesday) morning.”

Alexandru, who was one of eight children, weighed less than 37 pounds when he died in 2013 at the age of 15. 

The trial, which began May 24, was adjourned over the summer and is entering its final stage this week. The parents have both pleaded not guilty.

Weekend hockey

PAGC set to host largest Senator's Cup tournament to date

1h ago

Riderville

Riders Have Options Heading into Tuesday CFL Draft

4h ago

Induction Ceremony this June

North Stars relish opportunity to host SJHL Hall of Fame

5h ago

Closing arguments are expected to be finished by the end of this week.

Court has heard evidence from medical officials and social workers, who were involved with the Raditas from the time Alexandru was first diagnosed with diabetes in 2000 up until the family left British Columbia while under the eye of child-welfare services.

Witnesses have testified that the parents refused to accept that their son had diabetes and failed to treat his disease until he was hospitalized near death in 2003. One witness described the teen as nothing more than “skin and bones.”

Social workers apprehended Alexandru after his October 2003 hospital admission and placed him in foster care — where he thrived — for nearly a year before he was returned to his family.

Alexandru virtually fell off the map once the family moved to Alberta in 2008. Court was told he was enrolled in an online school program for one year but never finished. The boy never saw a doctor, although he did have an Alberta health insurance number.

The Crown, which concluded its case in June, said the teen’s parents fostered complete dependence by keeping their son out of school and isolating him from the community.

“This isolation was necessary to allow the Raditas to treat Alexandru’s diabetes in an idiosyncratic and dangerous way,” prosecutor Susan Pepper told the court. 

“The relationship between Alex and his parents is not unlike an abusive domestic relationship where the abuser isolates the abused in a bid to establish total control over the victim.”

— Follow @BillGraveland on Twitter

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press