‘Part of me has died’: mom describes losing murdered baby

WARNING: This story contains graphic content.

The family of Nikosis Jace Cantre described their pain and struggles since the infant boy’s death on Thursday, as victim impact statements were read at the sentencing hearing of the baby’s killer.

Alyssa Bird, the baby’s mother, sobbed as her statement was read by a cousin to the court.

“I didn’t want to be alive anymore, I wanted to go with him,” Bird said in the submission, adding she lives because of her remaining children.

“A part of me has died. I’ve been robbed of my baby … I’ll never get to hear my baby call me mom. He never got to see his first Christmas.”

Her six-week-old son was brutally murdered on July 3, 2016 by a 16-year-old girl the family had taken in from the street.

The teen, now 18, pleaded guilty to second degree murder in October 2016. The court is holding the sentencing hearing to determine whether the girl will be sentenced as a youth or an adult.

She can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

A youth sentence for second degree murder carries a maximum prison term of four years, with an additional three years of probation. An adult sentence would mean life in prison, with eligibility for parole after seven years.

Bird described leaving the home briefly for a cigarette, then returning to see the teen leaving her son’s room.

She found the infant boy gasping for breath, with blood coming out of his ears and mouth.

Her family desperately called 9-1-1 for help, but the baby succumbed to his injuries a short time later.

Several of the victim impact statements read Thursday morning described a broken family, strained by the tragedy of losing baby Nikosis.

“It’s like we don’t know how to be happy anymore,” the grandmother Charlene Longman said.

The baby’s aunt, Larissa Bird, said in her statement she felt partly responsible for the death because she didn’t bring the infant boy into her own room.

“I feel like I failed as an auntie,” she said.

She was pregnant at the time, and told the court she considered giving the baby to her grieving sister if it was a boy.

The teen was sentenced Thursday for a separate incident that occurred while she was on remand at Paul Dojack Youth Centre in Regina. She admitted to punching a Canadian Correctional Services officer in the chest while returning to her cell in May, receiving a 30-day youth sentence for the action.

Sentencing proceedings are set to resume Friday with final arguments from the lawyers.

The teen is also expected to address the court.