Two Mormon parents from Canada who own a nutritional supplement company are accused of letting their toddler son die from meningitis because they tried to treat him with home remedies instead of a medical vaccine.
David and Collet Stephan have pleaded not guilty to charges that they failed to provide the necessities of life to their 19-month-old son Ezekiel, and claim they treated the child in the way they felt best.
Prosecutors in Alberta, have said the couple did not call an ambulance in sufficient time and only called for an ambulance when the boy stopped breathing and instead fed him supplements with an eye dropper and lay down with him.
Tragically it was too late.
Ezekial’s mother Collet Stephan told police that a friend told the couple their son had meningitis, the disease that causes inflammation from an infection of fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
The 35-yr-old woman said they tried to maintain the boy’s immune system by feeding him with olive leaf extract, whey protein, water with maple syrup and juice with frozen berries – but critically no medicine.
They finally fed the baby boy, who was practically dead after two weeks of the extreme illness, a mixture of apple cider vinegar, horseradish root, hot peppers, onion, garlic and ginger root before being airlifted to hospital where he tragically died 5 days later.
Prosecutors told the court the couple loved their son and are not accused of killing him, rather just not calling for appropriate medical intervention.
If convicted, the couple face a five-year prison term. The trial is ongoing.