A Surrey man whose great-niece was killed nearly four years ago says he hasn’t missed a day of court proceedings that are underway in the case against her mother Lisa Batstone.
But it hasn’t been easy, said Don McGibbon.
“The last six days have been kind of devastating,” McGibbon told Black Press Media Monday, during a break in testimony at BC Supreme Court in New Westminster.
Teagan’s body was found in the back of a car in a cul-de-sac just south of Crescent Road on Dec. 10, 2014, and her mother was arrested at the scene.
Judge-alone proceedings, to determine whether Batstone’s statements prior to being advised of her right to counsel are admissible in trial, began earlier this month and are expected to conclude this week.
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Monday morning, Justice Catherine Murray heard testimony from Peace Arch Hospital psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Maskall and PAH social worker Jennifer Culbert, who both had direct interactions with Batstone at the hospital that day.
Both shared statements attributed to Batstone, including disturbing accounts of how Teagan died.
The mother and daughter had been having a “camp out” in their living room the night before, but Batstone was “frequently awakening,” Maskall told the court, reading from his report on his interview with the then-41-year-old.
Batstone told him that Teagan “looked so peaceful sleeping and I just wanted her to be with Jesus,” Maskall said.
“She proceeded to take a plastic bag and hold it over (her daughter’s) face.”
According to Maskall’s report, Batstone said she killed her daughter to “protect” the youngster from her father – who the court heard Batstone had an “acrimonious” relationship with – and because she didn’t want Teagan to “have her (mother’s) brain.”
“Lisa tells me it was then her intention to kill herself and die with her daughter.”
Maskall later noted that Batstone had struggled with mental health since her teens. She was involuntarily hospitalized in 2012, and told Maskall she had asked for psychiatric help months before Teagan’s death.
Batstone had been scheduled to see a psychiatrist in January 2015, Maskall noted.
Maskall confirmed to defense counsel Rebecca McConchie that Batstone “told you she had not had any thoughts of harming her daughter” prior to killing her. He agreed that a stressor for Batstone prior to Teagan’s death was a falling-out with her church.
“She felt that she and Teagan had been ostracized… betrayed by her church,” he said.