ELIJAH o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-01-03 published
Man faces gun charge in stepson's death
By Graeme SMITH
Friday,
January 3, 2003, Page A3
A mother's grief was mixed with anger yesterday when her partner
remained in jail on a weapons charge in the fatal shooting of
her son on a hunting trip.
"I don't think it's fair at all," the tearful 30-year-old, who
asked not to be named, said in a telephone interview from her
home near Hagersville, Ontario
This is the second time she has mourned the death of a child
over the holidays: Her younger son, Elijah
JADE, died in a car
crash on Christmas Eve two years ago.
Her older son, 10-year-old Aaron James
MARTIN, went hunting for
his first deer in Southwold Township, south of London, Ontario,
on New Year's Day with his 31-year-old stepfather, Fabian
ELIJAH,
and Mr. ELIJAH's 12-year-old nephew.
Shortly after 1 p.m., police say, Mr.
ELIJAH was crossing a creek
in a ravine when he slipped and fell. The jolt set off his .22-calibre
rifle, and a bullet hit Aaron in the head.
Mr. ELIJAH and his nephew ran in opposite directions, out of
the woodlot and across corn fields, searching for help. Mr.
ELIJAH
found a farmhouse and emergency services were called.
Rescuers at first had trouble finding the boy, Ontario Provincial
Police spokesman Dennis
HARWOOD said: "It was difficult because
of the terrain."
Emergency crews borrowed four-wheel-drive pickup trucks and tore
across the rolling fields, but the distraught hunters had trouble
retracing their steps.
"They were trying their best," Mr.
HARWOOD said. "But they were
disoriented."
An air ambulance eventually spotted the boy from above, Mr.
HARWOOD
said. The helicopter took him to the Children's Hospital of Western
Ontario in London, where he was pronounced dead.
A police investigation later revealed that a 1993 court order
had forbidden Mr.
ELIJAH to own guns. He appeared in a Saint Thomas,
Ontario, courtroom yesterday, was charged with illegal possession
of a firearm and was denied bail.
Investigators are still examining the accident, Mr.
HARWOOD said,
though foul play is not suspected.
The boy's mother said Mr.
ELIJAH, her partner for about three
years, was an experienced hunter. She hadn't known about the
1993 court order, she said.
She has four surviving children, all girls.
Aaron had enjoyed playing on a local lacrosse team until his
brother's death, she said. "He's just been trying to heal from
that."
The boy was still learning to hunt, having tried it only a few
times before. He was also learning to speak the Mohawk language
of his ancestors.
"He was a high-spirited young boy," his mother said. "He had
lots of Friends. He was always helping people with things, you
know. I want the world to know how beautiful my sons were," she
said. "I want everybody to remember his kind and gentle heart.
He's with the Creator now, with his brother."
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