Dad convicted in toddler's death couldn't stand up to abusive spouse, court told

Daniel Williams struggled to standup to the womanwhoseprolonged abuse of their 21-month-oldtoddler led to their daughter'sdeath, his lawyer argued at a sentencing hearing Thursday.

Veteran attorney Greg Brodsky is relying on a defence he first established battered spouse syndrome to argue his client wasneglected in an abusive relationship and could not speak up for himself or theirdaughter.

The defence is asking for notime behind bars and a period of probationfor Williams, who wasconvicted earlier this year of manslaughter for failing to intervene before KierraElektra Starr Williams died in 2014.

Kierra'sbody showed signs of months of abuse at the time of her death on July 17. She had broken bones, a dislocated shoulder and missing teeth. She was also severely malnourished and covered in bruises.

The cause ofthe toddler'sdeath was blunt force trauma to the abdomen and internal blood loss.

Brodsky argued Williams was working long hours and didn't notice Kierra's deteriorating condition.

Williams, 37,thought his daughter was being taken to medical appointments, he told the Court of Queen's Bench Thursday.

"I guess she wasn't," he said softly.

"I did my best to be a father, like my father taught me."

Thepersistentabuse was inflicted by the girl's mother,VanessaBushie. Shereceived a life sentence last year with no chance of parole for 14 years.

Failed to provide for daughter: Crown

The Crown, which wants a nine-year custodial sentence,believes Williams didn't do enough to protect his daughter.

Prosecutors argued the defence of battered spouse syndrome should hold little weight because Williams' therapist could nottest for the condition, only assess it.

"He conceded his limitations," Crown attorney Daniel Chaput said.

Williams previously told police he did not take his daughter to hospital, despite concerns about the girl's health, because he was scared his other two children would beapprehended by Child and Family Services.

Chaputsaid that decision does not show a man being controlled by his partner.

It's a question of wanted and unwanted.-Crown attorney DanielChaput

"It flies in the face of the evidence we heard."

The prosecutor saidit was "perplexing" to find Williams' two other childrenhappy and healthy, while their toddler-aged daughterwas soimpoverished that experts said she was "starving" and "withering" when she died.

"There was no indication that they had any deprivation whatsoever at the same time Kierra was being so deprived," he said.

"Again, it's a question of wanted and unwanted."

Brodskywas the first lawyer to establishbattered spouse syndrome as a defence when he defended a woman who fatally shot her common-law partner in the back of the head following a heated argument in August 1986. The case ultimately went to the Supreme Court.