Meika Jordan's mom testifies in Calgary girl's beating death

KylaWoodhouse, the mother of a six-year-old Calgary girl who was beatento death, testified that she and the child's father were in a bitter, year-long custody battle leading up to herdeath.

Meika Jordan died of blunt force trauma on Nov. 14, 2011.

She had been in the care of her father and stepmother, Spencer Jordan and Marie Magoon, at the time.Both face a charge of first-degreemurder.

Woodhouse testified that she and Jordan broke up in 2009. By July2010, Marie Magoon was living with Jordan and it was late August when the custody battle began.

A judge granted Jordan primary custody with Woodhouse awarded weekends with the children, buthe and Magoon disappeared in August2011with Meika and her little brother for three weeks.

Police were called and the family was found living at Inn From the Cold, a local homeless shelter.

In early September2011, Woodhouse was granted custody buta Calgary judge reversed that order a few weeks later and the children went back to Jordan.

Crown alleges torture

The Crown alleges Meika was essentially tortured in the days leading up to her death.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Susan Pepper saidMagoon held a lighter under Meika's hand causing a third-degree burn.

Knowing Meika's mother would question the burn, Pepper said the couple refused to return Meika and her brother.

That's when she alleges they began beating her bypunching the girl, forcing her to run up and down their stairs, pushing her down the stairs and dragging her by her hair.

The fatal blows occurred when Meika's head was smashed against the tile floor in the kitchen, says Pepper.

The medical examiner identified five significant areas of severe head trauma. The couple wasn't charged until about a year after Meika's death.

Pepper says that's because they were the subjects of a lengthy undercover police operation, which eventually led to both admitting their roles in her death.

During her testimony today, Woodhouse described her daughter as "extraordinary, happy-go-lucky and outgoing."