The court was originally told the earliest date would be Mar. 26, 2018. Justice Earl Wilson of Court of Queen’s Bench insisted such a delay would be unacceptable.
"There’s no way we’re going to be putting this trial off for another year," Wilson said Friday. Last summer the Supreme Court of Canada handed down a decision that set new rules to ensure accused persons get a trial within a reasonable time. "This man is presumed innocent until proven otherwise."
Officers were called to a home in Calgary on Dec. 19, 2014, and found the preschool girl in cardiac arrest and not breathing. Olive Rebekah Oluwafemi was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Investigators said her injuries appeared to have been inflicted inside her home and were not the result of an accident.
"The cause of death was blunt force injuries," Staff Sgt. Colin Chisholm said. "We believe there were injuries…upwards of weeks prior to the incident."
Olive’s death was deemed a homicide in January, 2015. Chisholm said the family of three had been living in Calgary for approximately two years prior to the death of Olive, but had left just weeks after her death.
Chisholm said her father was a suspect from the beginning of the investigation, but it took a long time to lay charges because medical evidence in child and infant deaths takes extra long to come back.
"At the time, investigators believed the injuries that caused her death were inflicted within the family home, and were not the result of play, an accident such as falling down stairs, nor medical intervention consistent with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)," police had said in a release. Chisholm said police were initially told Olive fell down stairs in the family home.
Oluwafemi is originally from Nigeria and was working as a graduate engineer in the oil industry in Calgary. He moved to Keswick, Ont., to be near his family. He has been in custody since his arrest.
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