ST. ANDREWS, N.B. — A New Brunswick man accused of fatally stabbing a newborn in the heart told police that he and his girlfriend decided three months before the baby's birth that it would not live, a first-degree murder trial heard Wednesday.
"The only thing I knew from October was that we were going to have the baby at home and it wasn't going to live," Rodney Miller says in a videotaped police statement played at his trial.
Miller, 28, of Moores Mills made the statement to police following his arrest in January.
Miller and his girlfriend, Sarah Russell, 20, were arrested Jan. 29 on suspicion they had concealed the birth of a baby boy.
For months, social workers believed Russell had been pregnant, but she consistently denied it.
But during an escorted visit on Jan. 22 with her first child - who is in foster care - social workers said she no longer appeared pregnant, court has heard.
Subsequent visits to the home by social workers and police produced no evidence of a baby.
The court was told Wednesday that details of the case began to unfold after Miller was taken into custody.
RCMP Const. Phillip Scribner told the court that Miller began talking in the back of his police cruiser while being driven to St. George, N.B., for interrogation.
Scribner said Miller told him that the baby had been born alive and disposed of on the property that the couple shared.
The court was then shown the video of a four-hour interrogation, during which Scribner suggested that Miller have a lawyer present.
"I think a lawyer would be a really good idea," Scribner is heard saying on the tape, but Miller refuses.
Miller told police the baby was born at home on Jan. 17 and he asserts that he wanted to take Russell and the baby to the hospital. He alleges that Russell threatened to commit suicide if he attempted to do so.
Miller told police that when he suggested calling the hospital, Russell removed the phone cord from the wall.
"She said, 'Kill it,' " Miller says on the video. He then adds, "She said, 'I'm not going through social services bullshit.' "
Miller says on the tape the baby was born face down and didn't make a sound, but knew it was alive because he saw its fingers moving.
"She said, 'Don't do anything ... don't clean out the airway or anything,' " Miller says.
He describes in the video getting a knife from a kitchen drawer, rolling the baby over and feeling the chest for a heartbeat, and then stabbing the infant once through the heart.
Scribner asks if the heartbeat stopped.
"Oh yeah," Miller replies. "And the arms just flopped."
"I didn't want to do it, but what was I supposed to do?" Miller continues.
"She was there saying get rid of the thing and threatening suicide."
He goes on to describe how they wrapped the baby in a towel and a blanket and filled two pop bottles with gasoline.
Miller says they took the baby to a wooded area beyond a train track that ran behind their home in Moores Mills, about 100 kilometres west of Saint John, and set the remains on fire.
"I lit it and we stood there for 15 or 20 minutes and it was still smoldering, and then we went back to the house," Miller says.
He told police he returned to the spot later to cover the scene with snow.
Following the interrogation, police were unable to find the remains and had Miller show them where they were, Scribner testified Wednesday.
A dog used by the Fredericton Fire Department to sniff for accelerants was used to confirm the location, an investigator with the department testified.
The Crown called its final witness Wednesday afternoon to give details of the autopsy.
Judge Hugh McLellan paused the proceedings to allow anyone to leave the courtroom before graphic pictures were shown on a large projection screen.
Dr. Mohammad Hossain testified that the baby boy was full term and born alive.
He described the burns on the baby from the fire, and identified three puncture wounds in the chest, made by a sharp object.
Hossain said one wound was superficial, a second punctured the liver, while the third into the heart was fatal.
Defence lawyer Joel Hansen said he does not plan to call any witnesses.
He has already conceded his client killed the baby, but contends it was second-degree murder.
Both the Crown and defence will give their closing arguments Thursday.
Russell is charged with manslaughter but her case has yet to be heard. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 16.
