Alex Radita 'should never have died,' RCMP officer testifies at murder trial
Emil and Rodica Radita each face a charge of 1st-degree murder
The RCMP officer involved in investigating the parents of Alex Radita says she is angry the system failed the 15-year-old found dead inside his Calgary home.
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Rodica and Emil Radita are on trial for first-degree murder after their 37-pound son was found dead in his bed.
Charlene Beck is a retired RCMP member who investigated the Raditas beginning in 2003 after Alex was brought to hospital near death when his parents failed to treat his diabetes.
"He should never have died," she told CBC News after her testimony on Wednesday.
B.C. background
Alex was diagnosed with diabetes at age three when the Raditas lived in Surrey, B.C., and was hospitalized three times before social services seized the boy for a year because his parents refused to accept his diagnosis and treat him.
While testifying about the condition Alex was in when she first saw the four-year-old in a B.C. hospital, Beck had to hold back tears.
"In my career I have never seen a child in such a state," said Beck. "He couldn't lift his head, he couldn't lift his arms, he couldn't lift his legs."
"He was a skeleton. He talked in very, very, very quiet whispers."
Beck interviewed Alex in June 2004 at the Surrey RCMP detachment after he was placed with a foster mother.
"Had I not been there to see it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it was the same child," said Beck. "He was chubby, happy, non-stop talkative, he couldn't sit down."
Though they were initially facing criminal charges related to Alex's hospitalization, those charges were dropped because Alex was returned to his parents and the prosecution found there wasn't a reasonable likelihood of conviction.
Move to Alberta
In 2008, the Raditas failed to show up for one of Alex's doctor's appointments. An investigation was launched but the Raditas could not be found. It was later discovered they'd moved to Alberta.
When lead homicide detective Matt Demarino contacted Beck, she says she knew right away why he was calling.
"Before he even told me I knew that Alex was dead."
Knowing the course Alex's life took after B.C. authorities had dealings with the Raditas has left Beck with strong feelings.
"[I'm] angry — angry that he wasn't monitored, angry that we have a system in Canada that doesn't allow cross-provincial information sharing at the touch of a button with the technology we have today," said Beck. "It's insane.
"There's no way he should have been able to slip through the system like that, there's no excuse for it."
Court of Queen's Bench Justice Karen Horner has yet to rule on the admissibility of the B.C. evidence.