CALGARY — The Crown will make its final arguments today in the trial of two Calgary parents accused of first-degree murder in the death of their teenage son.
Alexandru Rodita was 15 years old but weighed just 37 pounds when he died of starvation and complications from untreated diabetes in 2013.
Emil Radita, 59, and his wife, Rodica, 54, have pleaded not guilty.
On Wednesday, defence lawyer Andrea Serink argued in order to prove first-degree murder, the Crown would have to prove both planning and intent.
She said the court would have to conclude the couple were "so malicious that they purposely planned and wanted to witness a slow and deliberate death of their son."
She said failing to treat his diabetes is not the same as intending to murder, and the judge hearing the case should only consider manslaughter or criminal negligence.
The trial has heard 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. They moved to Alberta while under the eye of child-welfare services.
Witnesses have testified the Raditas 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.
After the family moved to Alberta, the 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.
Alexandru was one of eight children, and earlier this week one of his sisters testified he was a vibrant, artistic and smart person who was happy "most of the time."
The young woman also acknowledged her parents did not believe in taking their children to doctors on religious grounds.
