CANADA • Jade and Jayla STEPHENSON, 8 months old and 2 yo, and Teresa Johnson / Accused: Jerome Stephenson ~ Toronto ON

Man arrested after woman and 2 children plunge from balcony
November 05, 2011

Witnesses described a “horrific,” “devastating” scene: A woman, a toddler and an infant lying in front of a Scarborough highrise after plunging from a fourth-floor apartment balcony.

The oldest child, 2, lay unconscious on the grass below. The infant — not yet a year old — lay further away from the building on the pavement, unmoving and foaming at the mouth.

“Two kids — a baby, a little baby, lying on the ground,” said distraught resident Mike Holland. “I tell you, it was just horrifying.”

The incident occurred around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday at an apartment building at 550 Scarborough Golf Club Rd.

Paramedics and police arrived moments later, then rushed both children to Sick Kids hospital with life-threatening injuries.

A woman in her 30s was transported to Sunnybrook hospital. Her injuries were described as not life-threatening, but police said that a fall from that height would cause “substantial injuries.”

Shortly after, a man in his 30s was arrested. As of late Saturday night, no charges were laid.

Toronto police are releasing few details, but confirmed the man and the woman were either a common-law or married couple, and that the man also plunged from the balcony.

Residents of the highrise stared in shock as police cordoned off the area below the 4th floor corner apartment with yellow police tape. A blanket lay on the grass below.

Few knew what exactly had occurred, but all were disturbed by the details they had.

Neighbours below the apartment said they heard loud shuffling and banging sounds above, while another heard shouting.

Afterward, shattered glass was strewn over the grass and pavement.

A large hole in one of the apartment’s windows — directly behind the balcony — was visible from the ground below.

“It’s devastation inside the building. Who wants to see that?” said 4th floor resident Garnet Coucill.

Coucill and several other residents did not know the people involved — “people come and go a lot,” he said — but one said the woman was the mother of the two children.

She said she’d seen the woman recently, smiling and doing laundry with the two children.

Hours after, police sat in the hallway outside the 4th floor apartment and blocked off entry to surrounding apartments, saying residents still needed to be interviewed.

Holland, who lives on the 6th floor, said he had just gone down to the main floor to put in a load of laundry moments after the incident.

A building superintendent rushed over to him screaming and asked him to come outside immediately.

“I run out and I see this little baby …” he said, putting his hands on his face, his eyes welling up.

“A little, innocent baby right by the walkway.”

Holland and several others claimed the man who was arrested had fallen off the balcony after the woman and children had fallen.

The man did not appear to be injured, and Holland said he and another resident attempted to tackle the man outside the building.

When police arrived, the man tried to grab for one of the officer’s guns, Holland said.

“I can’t believe it,” said resident Crystle Jeffrey. “Nothing like this has ever happened here.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1082024--man-arrested-after-woman-and-2-children-plunge-from-balcony?bn=1

Man arrested after baby, toddler fall from balcony


At least three people fell from this balcony of a highrise on Scarborough Golf Club Road near Lawrence Avenue East in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011.

Toronto police have arrested a man in his 30s after at least three people -- including a baby and a toddler -- fell from a fourth-floor balcony in the city's east end.

The incident happened shortly after 4 p.m. on Saturday at a high-rise on Scarborough Golf Club Road near Lawrence Avenue East.

An 11-month-old and a 2-year-old were rushed to Sick Kids Hospital. Both are suffering from life-threatening injuries, said Staff Sgt. Barbara McLean.

Police arrested a man in his 30s at the scene. He was treated for minor injuries and has been released from hospital.

A woman in her 30s was also taken to Sunnybrook Hospital.

One witness said he was doing laundry in the building when he heard screaming, and stepped outside to see a baby, "another little child" and a woman lying on the ground.

"It was heartbreaking," Mike Holland said.

Other residents in the building said they heard an argument taking place in the apartment prior to the incident. One of the apartment's windows along the balcony is also shattered.

Police are investigating. No charges have been laid.

http://m.ctv.ca/topstories/20111105/apartment-balcony-fall-111105.html

Man faces charges of attempted murder after woman, two children fall from balcony
November 06, 2011

A man has been charged with three counts of attempted murder after a woman and her two young children plunged off a fourth-floor balcony in Toronto's east end.

Toronto Police Staff Sergeant Mike Ervick says the children — a two-year-old and an eight-month-old infant — suffered life-threatening injuries, but adds that doctors at Sick Kids Hospital are hopeful both will survive.

He says their mother, believed to be in her thirties, is being treated for serious injuries at Sunnybrook Hospital and is expected to recover.

The 27-year-old man accused in yesterday afternoon's incident also went over the balcony but wasn't hurt in his fall.

Police aren't releasing his name to protect the identity of the victims.

He is scheduled to appear in court Sunday.

Police say he is charged with three counts of attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault, one count of an attempt to disarm a police officer and two counts of assault attempt to resist arrest.

There's been no official word on the suspect's relationship to the victims.

Grief councillors are available to talk to anyone who witnessed Saturday's traumatic events, including police.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/man-faces-charges-of-attempted-murder-after-woman-two-children-fall-from-balcony/article2226886/

Man faces attempted murder charges after woman, children plunge from balcony
November 06, 2011



One day after a woman, a toddler and an infant plunged from the 4th floor of an apartment building, a 27-year-old man faced three counts of attempted murder.

Jerome Stephenson appeared in court Sunday morning, also facing three counts of aggravated assault, one count of attempting to disarm a police officer, and two charges of resisting arrest.

Stephenson’s partner, Teresa Johnson, and two girls believed to be their children — one 2 years old, the other 8 months — were rushed to hospital Saturday at about 4:15 p.m. after plummeting off the balcony of a highrise on Scarborough Golf Club Rd.

While police wouldn’t say much about what happened, Staff Sgt. Jim Gibson suggested the charges indicate the seriousness of the alleged crime.

“(The charges) would lead somebody to believe that perhaps the three victims in this case did not jump,” said Gibson. “I’m sure you can read between the lines.”

Residents who were there immediately after the children and Johnson hit the ground described a disturbing scene, with the woman crumpled on the ground below the balcony, the unconscious toddler on the grass nearby, and the infant further out, closer to the sidewalk.

Shattered glass blanketed the grass and pavement below, and a window directly behind the balcony was broken.

But contrary to residents’ reports, Gibson said “nobody went through window.”

“A window was broken in the incident, but a baby did not get thrown to the ground through a window,” he said.

On Sunday, the girls remained at the Hospital for Sick Children with injuries that police described as life-threatening.

Johnson, believed to be in her thirties, was rushed to Sunnybrook hospital with serious injuries and is expected to live.

Residents of the highrise were still reeling from the incident Sunday night.

Garnet Coucill, a 4th-floor resident, said everybody in the building was talking, wondering how such a tragedy could come about.

“It’s devastation,” he said.

Stephenson has been remanded in custody until a Nov. 10 bail hearing.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1082172--man-faces-attempted-murder-charges-after-woman-children-plunge-from-balcony?bn=1#article

snipped . . . . .


Jerome Stephenson, who is facing attempted murder
charges, is seen in this court sketch.

Jerome Stephenson faces nine charges in connection with the incident:

• Attempted murder (3 counts)
• Aggravated assault (3 counts)
• Attempt to disarm a peace officer
• Assault with attempt to resist arrest (2 counts)

Witness Mike Holland, who lives in the high-rise, said the man attempted to grab an officer's gun while being apprehended by police.

Read more

Charges laid in Toronto balcony plunge

When Laurie Smith saw something white fall to the ground outside the window of her third-floor apartment, she thought it was a blanket — or maybe a pillow.

It was the subsequent sound of glass shattering, followed by the piercing shrill of a woman’s scream, that led Smith to think something was very wrong. That’s when she went out onto her balcony of her Golf Club Rd. apartment on Saturday, and looked down.

There, about five metres from the building lay a child, curled up in fetal position. Closer to the building was another child and a grown woman.

And close to them lay Jerome Stephenson, the man now charged with numerous offences — attempted murder being at the top of the list.

Stephenson, 27, appeared emotionally shaken as he stood in the prisoner’s box in an Old City Hall courtroom Sunday morning.

He is charged with three counts of attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault, two of resisting arrest and one count of attempting to disarm a police officer.


The woman who fell, Teresa Johnson, was rushed to Sunnybrook Hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries. The children, Jade and Jayla Stephenson, were taken to the Hospital for Sick Children in serious condition.

Smith, who said the incident happened around 4:15 p.m Saturday, estimated one child to be around 8 months, the other about two-years old. Smith also said all four people lived in the apartment — a place where fighting could be heard regularly.

“The only thing I saw was this little black baby. It had a white sleeper on, in fetal position, in the middle of the (apartment building’s) driveway,” said Smith.

After the two children and woman plunged from the balcony, the man fell as well, Smith said, although this could not immediately be confirmed with Toronto police. Smith told the Sun the man tried to rise on wobbly legs, but was quickly “kicked... down” by the building’s superintendant and told to stay still until police and paramedics arrived.

In the building, on the fourth floor, the door to apartment 418 has been sealed with police tape, and the wood around its handle is badly damaged. Outside, from the ground, a large hole could be seen in the apartment’s window that looks out on to its balcony.

“Let this whole situation rest,” said a women living across the hall from the cordoned off apartment. “This woman has been through enough.”


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/11/06/18932246.html

Father accused of attempted murder in court
November 10, 2011


Jerome Stephenson has been charged with three counts of attempted murder. ((Alex Tavshunsky/CBC))

Jerome Stephenson, the man accused of throwing his dughters and his wife off a fourth floor balcony last weekend, appeared in court for the second time on Thursday.

Stephenson, 27, is facing nine charges, including three counts of attempted murder.

Wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans Stephenson shuffled into the court in handcuffs.

A group who would only identify themselves to CBC News as friends and family, also showed up for the proceedings.

Stephenson's bail hearing did not go ahead as planned. Instead it was postponed until Nov. 24. He will remain in custody.

The two children — an eight-moth-old and a two-year-old — are stable but remain at Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Their mother is at Sunnybrook Hospital and is expected to recover.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/11/10/toronto-stephenson-court.html

Is there anything new in this case? Did the children survive. It sure sounded like they had serious injuries after being thrown 4 stories.

snipped.....
Jerome Stephenson appeared in court via video on Nov. 24. He faced nine charges of attempted murder, including aggravated assault, resisting arrest and attempting to disarm a police officer after allegedly throwing his wife and two daughters from his fourth-floor apartment.

.....The 27-year-old accused appeared in court via video while he was still being held at the Toronto East Detention Centre. He was in an orange prisoner’s jumpsuit and appeared to look tired and weary.

He is still held in custody and will appear for a bail hearing again via video on Dec. 1.

Crown attorney Charmaine Wong said the case has simply been put over.

She also said that it is normal for murder cases to have numerous court appearances before the final trial date is made.

The court has approved a publication ban requested by the defense counsel to protect the identity of the children.

http://www.torontoobserver.ca/2011/11/29/scarborough-man-accused-of-atempting-to-murder-family-appears-in-court/

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The publication ban leads us to assume the children survived.
Other than the above article from Nov.29, 2011, I haven't been able to find any further updates on this case, not even a trial date.
We likely won't be privy to any additional info until after trial, this year or next?