The lawyer representing the father of a six-year-old girl who died in Duncan five years ago calls the child’s death a “systemic failing of epic proportions.”

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Peter Joe and Vanessa Daniels are both charged with manslaughter in the death of their daughter Diana Daniels on April 9, 2021, from a blood clot related to malnutrition.

Death of malnourished Duncan girl a ‘systemic’ failure: defence lawyer Back to video

The Crown is arguing Joe and Daniels should be found guilty of manslaughter by criminal negligence because they failed to seek medical attention for Diana.

For the two to be found guilty, the Crown must prove that failing to seek medical attention was a marked and substantial departure from what a reasonably prudent parent would have done in the circumstances.

But Sarah Runyon, who is representing Joe, told the court Friday in her closing arguments that it’s not possible to determine what a reasonably prudent person would have done in the circumstances, because it’s not possible to know beyond a reasonable doubt how Diana’s symptoms progressed and presented.

At times, the girl had trouble walking and had swelling in a leg, but it’s not possible to know when her symptoms “fell off a cliff,” Runyon said, adding it could have been on the day she died.

Joe called 911 that evening to report that his daughter was unresponsive. She was rushed to hospital, but doctors were unable to resuscitate her.

Police, paramedics and a doctor who saw Diana the night she died testified at trial that she looked very sick, with one officer saying she looked like an end-stage cancer patient. She had lost hair on her head and had lesions on her skin and a pressure sore on her back that exposed bone.

Crown prosecutor Paul Battin said in his closing submissions that both parents knew Diana was not healthy at least a month before she died, because she did not get out of bed on her sixth birthday, despite a surprise visit from her mother, who had been in hospital in Victoria.

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Battin said the evidence shows Diana was on a steady decline in her final month, complaining of pain in her leg, screaming when she was picked up and needing to be pushed in a stroller.

Diana was living with her parents, toddler brother and premature newborn sister in a one-bedroom motel suite at the time of her death.

Daniels had experienced complications with her pregnancy and unexpectedly had to spend a few weeks in hospital in Victoria. She returned to Duncan about a week before Diana died, Runyon said.

In April 2021, Cowichan Tribes put its reserve on effective lockdown and issued a shelter-in-place order, she said.

As a result, despite the nation’s child protection agency determining Joe and Daniels needed substantial monitoring of their parenting, they had minimal contact with a rotating roster of social workers, Runyon said.

Joe and Daniels both described each other in police statements as loving and caring parents, and referred to their daughter as “princess,” she said.

Runyon pointed to testimony by the forensic pathologist who conducted Diana’s autopsy that there was food in Diana’s stomach, indicating she was likely fed hours before she died.

When police and paramedics arrived following Joe’s 911 call, there was cooked macaroni on the stove, and the fridge was stocked with food, she said.

Joe told police that on the day she died, Diana woke up with the family, ate fruit and was bathed. She wasn’t feeling well, and her parents believed she had the flu and were treating her for it. She had Ibuprofen in her system, and there was children’s Motrin in the unit.

Joe and Daniels were arrested in January 2024, nearly three years after their daughter’s death. Joe’s interview with police makes it clear he is ­“unsophisticated,” someone who might struggle with life skills, Runyon said.

He found learning to drive overwhelming, struggles to recall phone numbers and appears to have genuine trouble with timelines, she said.

He told police Daniels stayed with someone named Janine when she was in Victoria giving birth to their youngest child, but she was actually staying at Jeneece Place, temporary housing on the grounds of Victoria General Hospital where families can stay while receiving medical care, Runyon said.

The nation’s child protection agency was involved in monitoring the family, but refused to provide any of its communications to the court, said lawyer Scott Sheets, who is representing Daniels.

Someone from the agency was at the motel on April 1, a little more than a week before Diana died, he said.

A search of the motel unit showed it was filled with toys, electronics and stuffed animals, Sheets said.

“Everything in the apartment speaks of caring for the children,” he said.

The parents’ two other ­children were taken from their custody after Diana’s death and returned to them after a child protection hearing, Sheets said. The children were removed again when the Crown decided to lay charges in 2024, he said.

The trial, which lasted two weeks, concluded on Friday. Justice Robin Baird, who is presiding over the judge-alone trial, will give his verdict at a later date.