Justin Cassie-Berube sentenced to 14 years in prison for ‘shocking’ abuse that led to child’s death

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Justin Cassie-Berube was sentenced to 14 years in prison Monday for the “shocking” child abuse and criminal neglect that led to the death of five-year-old Chloe Guan-Branch in May, 2020.

Cassie-Berube, 30, was found guilty in March of all charges of manslaughter, assault, assault causing bodily harm, criminal negligence and failing to provide the necessaries of life to Chloe, who suffered in severe and obvious pain for days before dying of an abdominal injury.

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Cassie-Berube was in a relationship at the time with the girl’s mother, Ada Guan.

Chloe suffered a lethal bladder rupture on May 9, 2020 — the evening before her fifth birthday — and was in severe pain and showing serious symptoms for days before she died, according to the judge’s summary of the trial evidence.

Cassie-Berube had refused to take Chloe to the hospital out of fear the doctors would discover bruises and other signs of physical abuse he had inflicted on her.

She died, alone in a soiled bed, on May 15.

“Chloe’s short story is a shocking example of abuse,” said Superior Court Justice Pierre Roger in his ruling, released Monday.

“Cassie-Berube repeatedly assaulted Chloe. Moreover, during Chloe’s final days, despite Chloe’s apparent suffering and demise, he failed to seek medical attention to avoid legal jeopardy because he realized that health professionals would notice the bruises and injuries on Chloe and alert the authorities.”

Doctors documented a “shocking” number of bruises on the child’s body after she died. The forensic pathologist who examined Chloe concluded the rupture was caused by blunt impact abdominal trauma to a full bladder.

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She died of acute uremia, a condition that caused severe pain and induces nausea and vomiting as waste seeps into the bloodstream, attacking the central nervous system and leading to coma and death if untreated.

It is difficult and heart-wrenching to assess the harm that Chloe endured over months and particularly during her final week. No child should endure any of what Chloe suffered

Superior Court Justice Pierre Roger

During his testimony at his trial, Cassie-Berube admitted to beating the child violently, though he denied punching her in the stomach and said the girl suffered the injury when she fell onto her bed guardrail.

Pathologists could not determine whether the rupture was caused by from a punch, or from a fall into a guardrail.

Roger said he was left with a reasonable doubt about whether a punch cause the lethal bladder rupture.

The judge was left with no doubt, however, about Cassie-Berube’s guilt on all charges.

“I found Cassie-Berube guilty of failing to provide the necessities of life to Chloe when in these circumstances he failed to seek medical attention for Chloe,” Roger said in his ruling.

“I found Cassie-Berube guilty of manslaughter because he committed the unlawful act of failing to provide Chloe such necessities of life when she was in destitute or necessitous circumstances, and when this endangered her life, another unlawful act.”

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“I found that Cassie-Berube’s failure to carry out his legal duty to seek medical attention for Chloe showed wanton or reckless disregard for Chloe’s life.”

Cassie-Berube knew on May 9 that Chloe had suffered an abdominal injury, the judge ruled, knew the injury was serious, and knew that Chloe was “in significant pain and discomfort” as her condition progressively worsened.

“He observed Chloe missing her birthday on May 10, too sick to get out of bed. He knew that there was something wrong with Chloe,” Roger wrote.

Cassie-Berube “minimized” the symptoms and lied about Chloe’s condition to relatives “to avoid detection for (his) child abuse.”

Two days before she died, Chloe still had difficulty walking, still had a hard stomach, was still vomiting, still soiling her bed, and still sick all day, the judge wrote. She was making grunting noises and in obvious pain. The next day, she was “in and out of consciousness.”

“He knew that Chloe needed medical attention, but he persuaded her mother not to take Chloe for treatment,” the judge ruled.

“Cassie-Berube realized early on that Chloe was at risk and that she needed medical attention,” Roger wrote.

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“He was aware of the danger to the life or safety of Chloe and his failure to seek medical attention — despite his knowledge of that risk or danger to the child — can only be explained by his fear of detection for his child abusing conduct or fear of other legal jeopardy for the many visible bruises and injuries to Chloe.”

The judge found Cassie-Berube guilty of assaulting Chloe and cited numerous examples of abuse: Using soap on the child’s mouth to punish her when she used foul language, slapping Chloe on the mouth with the back of his hand, repeatedly spanking her, and grabbing her aggressively by the arm “to scare her and bring her where he wanted her to go when she did not listen, including when he grabbed her violently to go to the washroom on her final birthday, causing her to skip steps.”

Cassie-Berube admitted that he hit the child’s mouth “for something as simple as Chloe not doing her letters correctly,” the judge wrote. The abuse “scarred and hurt Chloe” as it extended over months.

“It is difficult and heart-wrenching to assess the harm that Chloe endured over months and particularly during her final week. No child should endure any of what Chloe suffered,” Roger wrote.

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“The abuse started months before her passing and continued until she passed. The autopsy evidence is shocking testimony of the unimaginable harm that Chloe suffered.”

Chloe’s birth story made headlines around the world after she was born on an Air Canada flight from Calgary to Tokyo on Mother’s Day, 2015.

Her biological father, Wes Branch, and her mother Ada Guan were featured on national newscasts and told reporters they had no idea she was pregnant at the time.

The infant Chloe was taken out of her parents’ care by the Children’s Aid Society a few months after she was born. She was only returned to her mother at age three, according to a summary of the evidence in Cassie-Berube’s trial.

Her paternal grandparents, Sandra and David Branch, said the family became estranged after Guan and Wes Branch split up about a year after Chloe was born.

Guan met Cassie-Berube online and moved to Ottawa to live with him in 2019, where they shared an apartment on Meadowlands Drive.

Police found Chloe’s lifeless body in the apartment, in a bed soiled from days of neglect on May 15, 2020.

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On Monday, Roger handed Cassie-Berube a 14-year sentence, minus the 182 days’ credit (equivalent to six months) for time served in pre-sentence custody.

Crown prosecutors had called for a 14-year sentence, while Cassie-Berube’s lawyer, Kate Irwin, argued for a sentence ranging from 10-12 years.

He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for manslaughter and two additional years for assault causing bodily harm, with the sentences to be served consecutively.

He was also sentenced to one year for assault, to be be served concurrently. He was ordered to submit his DNA to a national databank and was prohibited from owning weapons for life.

He was also barred from communicating with any known members of Chloe’s family.

ahelmer@postmedia.com

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