Tots' deaths a result of two systems' failures
IT WILL LIKELY BE MANY MONTHS before we know just what happened in the

weeks and months leading up to a Barrie mother's seemingly senseless slaying last week of her two little daughters.

However, one thing is already clear: the deaths were eminently preventable, and were the result of failures in Ontario's child welfare and justice systems.

Had the Simcoe County Children's Aid Society made the inquiries that reporters made within days of the homicides, they surely would have concluded that the two children were at risk and ought not to be in the custody of either parent.

Those inquiries would have shown graphically that Frances Elaine Campione, who now faces two counts of first-degree murder, had serious mental problems involving mood swings that could predictably leave her either suicidal or homicidal.

Meanwhile, the 31-year-old had been separated from her husband Leo, 36, since last year and Leo faced a string of criminal charges, one of which dated from 2004 and none of which had ever come to trial.

Clearly, had the justice system worked as it ought to, a trial judge would long since have heard evidence demonstrating, if nothing else, that there were serious problems in the family unit that potentially put the children at risk if left with either parent.

It would seem that another branch of the justice system - family court - was involved, yet for some reason had seemingly not made any orders designed to protect the children, having temporarily awarded the mother full custody.

We think it's fairly safe to conclude even now that this was by no means an ordinary case of first-degree murder, conviction for which leads to a mandatory sentence of life with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. After all, it's fairly safe to say that no mother "in her right mind" would take the lives of her two healthy young children.

However, there's a considerable gap between being seen by others as not "in your right mind" and meeting the requirement in Section 16 of our Criminal Code for a finding that an accused is not criminally responsible for his or her acts or omissions. It stipulates that an accused must prove that at the time of the act in question he or she was "suffering a mental disorder that rendered the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or omission or of knowing that it was wrong."

This is by no means the first time that an Ontario mother has been charged with murder in the death of her children, and no doubt will not be the last. Prosecutors often push the accused to trial facing the Code's most serious charge, arguing that the victims are particularly helpless and the mother's actions involved at least some element of planning and deliberation.

However, experienced trial judges often view the matter differently, and in one case a judge now on the Ontario Court of Appeal forced the Crown and defence lawyers in mid-trial to appear privately before another judge who managed to get the Crown to agree to a manslaughter plea and a six-year sentence, which the appeal court ultimately cut to a reformatory term.

In that case, as in the latest, the mother (who unsuccessfully attempted suicide) was depressed to the point where she saw her actions as committing her beloved daughters to Paradise.

Afew facts in this latest homicide are painfully clear. One is that the mother made no attempt to conceal her act, and in fact was the person who called police to report the deaths. Barrie police answering her 911 call at 6 a.m. Wednesday found the bodies of Sophia, 3, and sister Serena, 1, in her apartment.

The picture that quickly emerged was of a family that was unhappy and dysfunctional long before the homicides, the husband facing the assault charges against both his wife and Sophia (but staunchly praised by his family and former neighbours in Bradford) and the wife, described by those who knew her as deeply unhappy, unsociable, jealous and prone to rash behaviour.

On at least one occasion she had talked of suicide and on another, in the midst of a custody dispute, had dropped her daughters off at their paternal grandparents' home in Woodbridge, apparently saying she couldn't cope with them any more.

In Woodbridge, neighbours noted how proud the girls' grandparents, Diego and Anna Campione, were this summer, having taken the girls on daily walks and regular visits to parks and church.

One thing for sure is that this case cries out for a coroner's inquest to be held. Only then will we be able to see clearly why systems designed to protect the public, and children in particular, failed so miserably, and what might be done to minimize the risk of future such events.