Sentencing hearing for parents in death of Calgary toddler set for March

A sentencing hearing for a Calgary couple in the death of their badly burned and emaciated toddler has been scheduled for next year.

Sonya Pasqua and Michael Sinclair pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter.

Gabriel Sinclair-Pasqua, who was 18 months old, died in 2021 after suffering major burns to a third of his body.

Sentencing submissions are to be heard in Court of King’s Bench on March 24.

An agreed statement of facts presented in court says the boy’s parents didn’t seek medical treatment and tried to treat the burns with honey before he died from an infection and head trauma.

A pediatric surgeon said the burns would have required emergency medical care and immediate hospitalization.

Court heard the couple told officials different versions of how the boy was injured, including that he fell and hit his head on a toilet and that he pulled a pot of boiling water off a stove.