'Breach of trust': Judge hands down 8-year sentence to Regina mom who killed toddler

 This story contains details that some readers may find disturbing.

Brittney Burghardt spent her last moments out of custody tearfully hugging her family goodbye inside a courtroom at the Court of King’s Bench.

Justice Beverly Klatt sentenced the Regina mother to seven years in prison with remand credit for manslaughter. The judge added another one-year sentence for forcible confinement that is to be served consecutively.

“It is difficult to imagine a greater crime than the killing of one’s own child,” Klatt said while delivering her decision Friday morning.

Burghardt, 28, previously pleaded guilty to forcible confinement and manslaughter in the death of her two-year-old daughter, Kassie.

During sentencing submissions, the defence highlighted Burghardt’s cognitive deficits and moderate intellectual disability. Defence lawyer Thomas Hynes argued Burghardt operated similarly to a youth due to her reduced cognitive functions.

Hynes asked for a two-year prison sentence for manslaughter and three years probation for forcible confinement.

Klatt disagreed with Hynes’s argument that the mother could not understand the consequences of her actions.

“She was parenting and lovingly caring for her other two children,” Klatt said.

“Given the stark contrast between her treatment of Kassie and that of her other two children, it is difficult to see how her cognitive limitations had anything to do with how she abused Kassie.”

Autopsy results show Kassie died from blunt force trauma to the head in June 2021, one month before her third birthday.

Burghardt and her then-boyfriend Justin Anderson initially lied to police and said the toddler fell down the stairs. Burghardt later confessed to repeatedly throwing Kassie against a wall after the young girl would not listen to her mother. After the fourth or fifth shove, Kassie collapsed. Burghardt waited more than an hour to call 911.

“It involved an egregious breach of trust by a parent who had a duty to keep her child free from harm,” Klatt said.

“Ms Burghardt’s breach of trust resulted in the death of her child and consequences matter.”

In the six weeks leading up to Kassie’s death, Anderson convinced Burghardt to restrain Kassie during naptime and bedtime in an effort to help her sleep.

Evidence shows Burghardt would tape the girl’s arms to her sides and bound her legs together. The confinement escalated when Burghardt and Anderson decided to cover Kassie’s head with a pair of shorts when she slept. To punish Kassie for bad behaviour, the couple decided to decrease the girl’s supper portions and force her to lie in bed in her own urine or feces.

Even though it was Anderson’s idea to restrain Kassie, Klatt said Burghardt had the ability to set boundaries and not follow through with his plan.

Burghardt was also solely responsible for hitting Kassie on several occasions and hanging her upside down as punishment, Klatt said.

“A sentence must be proportionate to the gravity of the offence and the offender’s degree of responsibility,” Klatt said.

Burghardt previously took responsibility for killing her daughter and apologized to Kassie in a written letter she read aloud during sentencing submissions.

At that time, Crown prosecutor Chris White argued for a 10-year prison sentence for manslaughter and a two-year sentence for forcible confinement that would be served consecutively.

“The sentence imposed is pretty much in the range for the sentences that I would have expected,” White said following the judge’s decision.

“We had obviously asked for a little bit more given the circumstances (and) given the factors we thought were aggravating. Justice Klatt disagreed and we will consider what to do next.”

Klatt suggests Burghardt serve her time in a minimum-security institution such as Maple Creek’s healing lodge. However, that decision is up to Correctional Service Canada.

Anderson has also pleaded guilty to forcible confinement. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on June 19.