A judge has concluded it was Garfield Boothe who delivered the final, horrific beating of his 10-year-old son Shakeil that ultimately led to the boy’s death.

“Anyone who would repeatedly whip a 10-year-old boy with a belt to the point where blood was drawn and spattered about would certainly be inclined toward other forms of physical violence against the child,” Justice Fletcher Dawson concluded in his ruling in Brampton court Thursday, in weighing all the evidence from the “long and disturbing” trial.

Dawson also concluded it was Boothe who started chaining the young child to his bed for prolonged periods of time in the months before his violent death.

Boothe and his wife, Nichelle Boothe-Rowe, Shakeil’s stepmother, were convicted by a jury of second-degree murder in April and sentenced to life in prison.

Dawson was ruling on how many years each would have to spend in prison before being eligible to apply for parole. He ruled Boothe will not be eligible for parole for 18 years, until 2029, while Boothe-Rowe will not be eligible for parole for 13 years, until 2024.

Dawson concluded Boothe-Rowe was complicit in her stepson’s death.

Dawson wrote in his 40-page ruling that, while there was “very little evidence” that Boothe-Rowe ever hit Shakeil — she admitted to whipping him once with a belt — her failure to report Garfield Boothe’s abuse “aided and encouraged Garfield to commit murder.”

“She also failed to ensure that Shakeil received proper medical attention, failed to provide Shakeil with adequate nutrition, and was complicit in chaining Shakeil to his bed.”

Dawson described the little boy’s May 2011 murder as a “massive breach of trust.”

“The suffering Shakeil must have endured is almost unthinkable,” Dawson wrote. “The photographs of Shakeil’s dead body are very difficult to view.”

He noted that almost every inch of the boy’s body was “scarred, discoloured or wounded. His hands were swollen and his fingers were like sausages. He had a black eye and a swollen lip.”

“In addition, Shakeil was isolated and chained up like an animal for large parts of the day over the course of months.”

Boothe had admitted to “repeated and brutal” whippings of his son, Dawson noted, but denied delivering the final beating, which involved blows to his face and head and repeated hitting, kicking or stomping. Garfield Boothe weighed 230 pounds; his son was “a 65-pound defenceless boy,” Dawson concluded.

During the trial, court heard that Shakeil Boothe was regularly beaten, deprived of food and chained to his bed in the months before his death. Autopsy photos showed scars of varying ages criss-crossing his bony shoulders, back and legs, and open wounds on his shins, some of which were yellowed with infection.

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The boy was pulled from school and isolated from relatives and neighbours to hide his increasingly visible injuries, according to testimony. He was never taken to a doctor.

Brampton Guardian, with files from The Canadian Press

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