Brampton father, stepmother charged with 1st-degree murder in boy’s death
Posted May 17, 2012 11:39 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
First-degree murder charges have been laid against the father and step-mother of 10-year-old Shakeil Boothe, nearly one year after the child was found without vital signs inside the family’s Brampton home.
Peel police said on Thursday that charges against Garfield Boothe, 31, and Nichelle Boothe-Rowe, 28, have been upgraded. The boy’s father was originally charged with failing to provide the necessities of life. That charge was upgraded to second-degree murder days after the boy’s death and ultimately to first-degree murder this week.
Boothe-Rowe was originally charged with manslaughter in the case.
The couple also has a toddler, who was placed in the care of the Children’s Aid Society after the arrests.
Police were called to the family’s home on Homeland Court, in the Dixie Road and Queen Street East area, around 5 p.m. on May 27, 2011, where officers found the boy without vital signs.
Shakeil had been pulled out of classes at Hanover Road Public school in the January before he died. His father allegedly told school officials his son was going to live with his biological mother in Florida.
