TORONTO — The half-brother of a 17-year-old girl whose body was found in a burning suitcase two decades ago says his father told him the teen had run away from home when she disappeared from their apartment.
Cleon Biddersingh says he found the explanation surprising because his sister was extremely weak, in pain from being beaten by her father, had no money and no friends.
The now 41-year-old Biddersingh is testifying at the trial of his father, Everton, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of his daughter, Melonie.
Biddersingh has told a Toronto jury that he and Melonie were brought to Canada in 1991 from Jamaica, where they were born, to live with their father and his wife.
The opportunity was initially seen as a dream come true, he says, but alleges it soon turned into a nightmare as he and Melonie were increasingly mistreated by their father, suffering brutal beatings and food deprivation.
He says the last time he saw his sister, she was extremely thin, could barely walk and was lying on the floor on her side, holding her stomach.
Biddersingh says his father woke him in the middle of the night saying Melonie had run away before he left the apartment with his wife for a time.
When the couple returned, Biddersingh says he was instructed to dispose of a barrel in which Melonie was confined, throw out a chain used to shackle her to furniture and clean the balcony on which she was forced to bathe and relieve herself.
The jury has heard that Melonie died on Sept. 1, 1994.
Expert evidence expected in the case will indicate she had 21 "healing fractures" caused three weeks to six months before her death, the jury has heard. Evidence is also expected to suggest that Melonie inhaled water shortly before her death.
The case of Melonie's death remained unsolved for more than 18 years as police were unable to identify the girl's charred remains until they received a tip that led to the arrest of Everton Biddersingh and his wife in March 2012.
Elaine Biddersingh's first-degree murder trial is to begin next April.
