A security guard who was working at the Children’s Aid Society building on Isabella Street on Dec. 2, 2023, testified at the second-degree murder trial for Shardanae Cousins-Emily about the injuries he observed on a boy who was with her that day.
Speaking through a Punjabi interpreter Friday, Amritparkash Singh said he first saw Cousins-Emily around 4:45 p.m. as she was exiting the women’s washroom with a baby stroller.
Singh said Cousins-Emily asked for a blanket from an indoor play area.
“The child was with her, but he was fully covered. He was in a baby stroller,” said Singh. “The baby’s face was covered but I could see his legs.”
He said he and Cousins-Emily went to the play area to look for a blanket but could not find one.
Singh said he then went to the seventh floor of the CAS building to look for a worker to help him find a blanket, but was unsuccessful.
He said when he returned to the main floor, he noticed that Cousins-Emily was again exiting the washroom. Singh said he told Cousins-Emily, who had identified herself and identified the child as “Quinn,” to leave the building because there were no workers around.
Singh testified it was then he noticed an injury on the boy’s forehead.
“It was like a circle. Blood was not coming out. I asked her what happened to the child. She told me that outside of the building, he was playing with another kid and then got hurt.”
Singh added that he asked Cousins-Emily if he could help her with first aid or to get an ambulance and she said “no.”
The security guard said he was concerned about the injury, which is why he asked her if she needed help.
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The jury has already heard that Cousins-Emily went to the CAS building with three-year-old Yverson Belotte Junior, also known as Quintanni or Quinn, for a scheduled visit with her own son.
Shania John, Quintanni’s mother, has already testified that she left Quintanni with Cousin-Emily for the weekend. The two met as foster sisters when John was 12, and John said Cousins-Emily was someone she trusted.
The prosecution alleges that Cousins-Emily, who was 22 at the time, took Quintanni into the washroom several hours after visiting her son at the CAS, and brutally assaulted him. The following day, first responders were called to an apartment on Dawes Road, where Cousins-Emily lived, after Quintanni had stopped breathing.
An autopsy revealed the cause of death was blunt force trauma to his head.
Crown prosecutor Rochelle Liberman asked Singh if he noticed whether Cousins-Emily was wearing pants either before or after she went into the women’s washroom with Quinn. Singh said he didn’t remember. Singh testified he only recalled that Quinn was not wearing pants.
Liberman asked if that concerned Singh. He said it didn’t.
“I was just worried about the injury,” he explained.
Singh said Cousins-Emily and Quinn left the building and later returned around 5:45 p.m. but didn’t let her in because there was no worker available. Liberman asked if he smelled any alcohol on her breath when he was speaking with her or if she was slurring her words. Singh said he didn’t.
“She was speaking fine,” he added.
Singh said he wrote an incident report about the injury he had seen on the boy and decided to go into the women’s washroom after Cousins-Emily and Quinn left.
“On the floor and on the toilet seat, there was blood and it seemed like she had wiped it,” he said.
The jury was shown photographs from the accessible stall taken by Singh that appeared to show blood, which he testified he took to attach to his report.
During cross-examination, defence counsel Jacob Stilman asked if Singh thought Cousins-Emily was acting strangely.
“It was December 2nd. It was cold outside but she took the child out wearing only a diaper with bare legs, right?” Stilman asked.
“The legs were bare but I can’t say anything about the rest,” Singh replied.
Stilman asked Singh, as the prosecution had done earlier, if he noticed whether Cousins-Emily was wearing pants when she left the CAS building.
“I know you said to Ms. Liberman that you couldn’t remember. If I show you some images, perhaps that will help you remember?” Stilman suggested.
Video surveillance from inside the lobby of the CAS building showed Cousins-Emily and Quinn entering the women’s washroom around 3:30 p.m.
When she exited the washroom around 4:45 p.m., Cousins-Emily was bare-legged and appeared not to be wearing pants. Singh said he hadn’t noticed that Cousins-Emily was not wearing pants when she exited the washroom.
Stilman also cross-examined Singh about the fact that he testified he could not smell alcohol on Cousins-Emily’s breath. Singh said he was two-and-a-half to three feet away from her when they first went to the playground area to look for a blanket.
Cousins-Emily has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
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