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Exotic dancer accused of scalding toddler

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Sunday » November 2 » 2003

'Sadistic' attack intended, court told
Exotic dancer accused of scalding toddler

David Howell
The Edmonton Journal


Friday, January 16, 2004

EDMONTON - An exotic dancer should be found guilty of aggravated assault for scalding the feet of her friend's two-year-old boy in a sadistic, premeditated attack, a Crown prosecutor told an Edmonton judge Thursday.

"She's the one who was responsible for the sadistic cruelty that was visited upon (the victim) -- for what reasons we don't know," prosecutor Mark Huyser-Wierenga said in his closing arguments at the trial of Cristalle Smith.

He said Smith, 21, intentionally hurt the boy as a way of getting back at the boy's mother, also an exotic dancer.

Smith felt envy or resentment towards her friend, the prosecutor said. The exact nature of her hostility isn't known because "we haven't been able to get inside her head," Huyser-Wierenga said.

"The accused, for whatever reasons, decides she's going to deal with this situation by beating the (heck) out of the child of this woman," he said.

The boy suffered second-degree burns to his feet and spent five days in hospital after the May 18, 2002, incident. The burns were consistent with putting his feet in scalding water.

Doctors found a hand imprint on the left side of the boy's face and bruises on his face and upper arms.

The boy has since recovered from his injuries, Huyser-Wierenga said.

The Crown's theory is that Smith arranged to have her then-boyfriend, Darin Yeschuck, pick up the boy from his mother on the pretext that he was going to take his own children to Playdium at West Edmonton Mall and he wanted the two-year-old to come with them.

But Yeschuck later testified that was a ruse to fool the boy's mother.

In reality, the plan was to deliver the boy to Smith, who was alone in a penthouse apartment she shared with Yeschuck and another man. All three were crystal methamphetamine users, court heard.

Huyser-Wierenga noted that in an interview with city police detectives after her arrest, Smith referred to the boy coming to the apartment: "Darin dropped him off for me."

She was alone with the child for two or three hours. When he was delivered home to his mother, his face was smeared with lotion. The mother discovered the burns several hours later when she took off the boy's socks.

Smith's story was that the boy hurt his face in a fall and she applied the lotion to make him feel better, court heard.

Defence lawyer Paul Morin said the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Smith caused the boy's injuries. He said Yeschuck or the boy's mother could have inflicted the injuries during the time period in question.

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© Copyright 2004 Edmonton Journal








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