TearCollector
December 9th, 2011, 09:44 PM
November 7, 20011
A man appeared in court Sunday to face charges of attempted murder after he allegedly threw his wife and two daughters, an infant and a toddler, over the balcony of their fourth-floor apartment in Toronto, then jumped himself and grabbed for a police officer’s gun before he was arrested.
A shattered window pane at the scene, with a curtain hanging off the shards, suggests one or both of the children may have been thrown through the window, but police would not confirm exactly what happened in Saturday’s incident.
The girls, aged eight months and two years, were being treated in hospital Sunday for life-threatening injuries, while their mother was at a different hospital and expected to recover from her serious injuries.
Jerome Stephenson, 27, appeared in court Sunday, apparently uninjured but tearful and agitated in an orange prisoner’s jumpsuit, to be charged with three counts of attempted murder, three of aggravated assault, two counts of resisting arrest and one of attempting to disarm a police officer.
He was held in custody and is due to appear in bail court Nov. 10.
The fourth-floor balcony in the mid-rise building near a golf course in the eastern Toronto suburb of Scarborough is less than ten metres up, low enough that a controlled fall onto the grass below would likely not be fatal for an adult.
A witness who watched Mr. Stephenson’s arrest from a balcony on the same floor described a horrible scene: two little sisters lying motionless on the cold ground, the littlest in white pyjamas, with their mother crumpled nearby.
“I was sick to my stomach,” John Argall said. He said he watched as a resident picked up the infant, then put her back down, then picked her up again and wrapped her in a blanket as other people came to help.
Mr. Argall, who was out for a cigarette on his fourth floor balcony when the incident happened just after 4 p.m. on Saturday, said the infant landed on the grass within an inch or two of the pavement, which is several meters away from the building, directly in front of the broken window.
The two-year old was nearer to the building, he said, and the mother landed flush with the building, as if she had fallen straight down.
Sergeant Michael Walters of the Toronto Police Service would not say whether the children went through the window, but he said all three victims were allegedly thrown over the balcony by Mr. Stephenson, who then jumped, survived and reached for the gun of an arresting officer.
Mr. Argall said Mr. Stephenson was on the ground by the time police arrived, but that he lunged at them and was forcefully put back down by three officers. Other reports suggested he was first restrained by residents.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/06/toronto-man-alleged-to-have-thrown-family-from-balcony/
Nov. 10,2011
A man facing three attempted murder charges after a woman and two children plunged from the fourth floor of an apartment building appeared in court Thursday morning...
Four people who identified themselves as family and friends were in the courtroom. A woman in the group told reporters outside, “there’s so much more to this than you guys know,” but declined to comment further.
The girls, an 8-month-old and a 2-year-old, and their mother Teresa Johnson — believed to be Stephenson’s partner — remain in hospital.
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1085007--man-accused-in-balcony-fall-appears-in-court
A man appeared in court Sunday to face charges of attempted murder after he allegedly threw his wife and two daughters, an infant and a toddler, over the balcony of their fourth-floor apartment in Toronto, then jumped himself and grabbed for a police officer’s gun before he was arrested.
A shattered window pane at the scene, with a curtain hanging off the shards, suggests one or both of the children may have been thrown through the window, but police would not confirm exactly what happened in Saturday’s incident.
The girls, aged eight months and two years, were being treated in hospital Sunday for life-threatening injuries, while their mother was at a different hospital and expected to recover from her serious injuries.
Jerome Stephenson, 27, appeared in court Sunday, apparently uninjured but tearful and agitated in an orange prisoner’s jumpsuit, to be charged with three counts of attempted murder, three of aggravated assault, two counts of resisting arrest and one of attempting to disarm a police officer.
He was held in custody and is due to appear in bail court Nov. 10.
The fourth-floor balcony in the mid-rise building near a golf course in the eastern Toronto suburb of Scarborough is less than ten metres up, low enough that a controlled fall onto the grass below would likely not be fatal for an adult.
A witness who watched Mr. Stephenson’s arrest from a balcony on the same floor described a horrible scene: two little sisters lying motionless on the cold ground, the littlest in white pyjamas, with their mother crumpled nearby.
“I was sick to my stomach,” John Argall said. He said he watched as a resident picked up the infant, then put her back down, then picked her up again and wrapped her in a blanket as other people came to help.
Mr. Argall, who was out for a cigarette on his fourth floor balcony when the incident happened just after 4 p.m. on Saturday, said the infant landed on the grass within an inch or two of the pavement, which is several meters away from the building, directly in front of the broken window.
The two-year old was nearer to the building, he said, and the mother landed flush with the building, as if she had fallen straight down.
Sergeant Michael Walters of the Toronto Police Service would not say whether the children went through the window, but he said all three victims were allegedly thrown over the balcony by Mr. Stephenson, who then jumped, survived and reached for the gun of an arresting officer.
Mr. Argall said Mr. Stephenson was on the ground by the time police arrived, but that he lunged at them and was forcefully put back down by three officers. Other reports suggested he was first restrained by residents.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/06/toronto-man-alleged-to-have-thrown-family-from-balcony/
Nov. 10,2011
A man facing three attempted murder charges after a woman and two children plunged from the fourth floor of an apartment building appeared in court Thursday morning...
Four people who identified themselves as family and friends were in the courtroom. A woman in the group told reporters outside, “there’s so much more to this than you guys know,” but declined to comment further.
The girls, an 8-month-old and a 2-year-old, and their mother Teresa Johnson — believed to be Stephenson’s partner — remain in hospital.
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1085007--man-accused-in-balcony-fall-appears-in-court