Review Not Done In Amanda Simpson Death

By 250 News

Senior Crown Counsel, Oleh Kuzma says the Amanda Jean Simpson case has not been resubmitted to his office to reconsider charges.

Kuzma says, "When we have examined a file and made recommendations, that file is then sent back to the RCMP, it was in this case and it has not been re submitted to us."

Earlier this year a Coroner’s inquest heard from Dr M. Colbourne, a Vancouver Pediatrician who took 31 minutes on the stand to describe the injuries the little girl had suffered. The injuries were as follows.

• A compound fracture to the skull, running both ways on the skull;
• a major trauma to the front of her head which resulted in blood building up behind the eyes;  
• a fractured collar bone,
• bruising to her body which included bruises under her arms, also below her waist,
• bruising of the left hip;
• a ruptured stomach in which the lining of the stomach had been pulled away and air had become trapped between the walls;
• blood in the stomach that may have been caused by a cut tongue;
• bruising of the legs,
• bruising on the elbows and  
• bleeding from both ears . “You just don’t get these kinds of injuries from a fall down the stairs” said Dr. Colbourne.  She also could not give an explanation of why the little girl’s body temperature was 31.7 degrees when she was brought into the hospital.

The step father, Ronald Polson, says he gave Amanda a shower after she had thrown up on his bed. She was unconscious when her older sister brought her upstairs. Polson says she received the injuries in a fall downstairs and a further fall when he went to take her into the bathroom to try and get her revived in the shower. Polson says he had the little girl in the shower for between 2 and 3 minutes, but Dr. Colbourne testified he didn’t believe that much time in the shower could reduce a child’s body temperature.

Dr. Glen Taylor, Forensic Pathologist , testified that he had only seen injuries like those sustained by Amanda when the child’s head had been run over by a car.

Ronald Polson was arrested and spent three days in jail following Amanda’s death but was never charged

Gail Morrison, a social worker, testified that there had been 14 calls for concern between 1991 and 1994 consisting of one report of physical abuse and spousal violence, 12 reports were for neglect.

Where the family was between 1994 and 1997 is not known, but the family surfaced on the radar in September 1997, with a report of neglect and physical harm.  Several other concerns were raised during this period until October 29, 1999 when a school report said that a child had arrived in the breakfast room at school crying and afraid and asked for help.

Amanda was taken from her home to hospital on October 30^th.  She  was transferred to Vancouver, and  died on  November 2nd after being taken off life support.

A Coroner’s inquest cannot attach blame in a death but rather must confine itself to how and where the person died.

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