‘I miss her so much’
Grieving dad hopes daughter’s death will save another child Louise Dickson, Times Colonist
Published: Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Grieving dad hopes daughter’s death will save another child Louise Dickson, Times Colonist
Published: Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Eric Bringsli hopes his daughter’s murder will save another innocent child one day.
“There’s really nothing left but this little hope,” says the devastated father. “I miss her so much. It’s not going to make me feel better. But I don’t want anyone else to be in Eveleigh’s position, or my position of having to miss their child forever.”
Bringsli is at home today, unable to work. He’s overwhelmed by the loss of his four-year-old daughter who was murdered on Sept. 1, 2003, the day before she was going to begin kindergarten. Eveleigh Rain’s mother, Astrid Literski, fed her sleeping pills then smothered her. Literski is now serving a life sentence for second-degree murder.
Bringsli’s loss is more acute because it’s been revealed that the government shipped the unfinished reviews of 713 child deaths to a Victoria warehouse after scrapping the children’s commission in 2002.
“I’m appalled. How could that happen?” he asks. “Just like Eveleigh’s case, there are lessons to be learned from those. There might have been information in those files that might have helped Eveleigh. There’s got to be something in there. There’s got to be.”
Bringsli has printed out the missions, goals and objectives of the B.C. Coroners Service Child Death Review. It sits with letters and legal papers on the coffee table in his living room. He’s put asterisks beside the 13 points he considers important such as reviewing deaths in a timely manner, and preventing future deaths.
The B.C. Coroners Service says it has reviewed the cases of 546 children who died after Jan. 1, 2003, but has released a report on only one child’s death since then, compared to more than 700 released by the Children’s Commission in the previous six years.
And two years and three months after Eveleigh’s death, Bringsli is still waiting for the coroner’s report. He phoned coroner Rose Stanton months ago after the criminal case against Literski was concluded.
“She sounded like she was picking up the file anew,” says Bringsli. “I know Rose is working on it but it was supposed to be out more than a month ago and it’s still a couple of weeks away. Maybe she’s going that much deeper. But I feel I had to jump-start the process by contacting her in the first place.”
The coroner’s report and the child death review is important, says Bringsli who is looking for recommendations that relate to Eveleigh’s situation.
“I’m hoping something will be learned from this. . . . It’s long past due to have learned something. But nothing’s been learned yet from Eveleigh’s case that will protect a child in future.”
Although the ministry says information about their services to families must be withheld to protect the family’s privacy, Bringsli has no objection to recommendations about Eveleigh’s death being made public. “It’s got to be out there.”
In a recent interview, Colin Harris, manager of child-death review, said the B.C. Coroners Service will not make public reviews or recommendations on individual cases. Recommendations will be contained in aggregate reports or periodic reports that don’t identify specific cases.
Bringsli says it’s wrong that recommendations won’t be linked to Eveleigh, and wrong that he will probably never know what recommendations were made in her name.
“My hope is that one day these recommendations will be read by the right people and someone will say, ‘You know. I know about this case and it sounds like Eveleigh Rain’s case. Because I know about Eveleigh Rain, I’m going to make that call because I don’t want to see this child get hurt.’”
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2005
“There’s really nothing left but this little hope,” says the devastated father. “I miss her so much. It’s not going to make me feel better. But I don’t want anyone else to be in Eveleigh’s position, or my position of having to miss their child forever.”
Bringsli is at home today, unable to work. He’s overwhelmed by the loss of his four-year-old daughter who was murdered on Sept. 1, 2003, the day before she was going to begin kindergarten. Eveleigh Rain’s mother, Astrid Literski, fed her sleeping pills then smothered her. Literski is now serving a life sentence for second-degree murder.
Bringsli’s loss is more acute because it’s been revealed that the government shipped the unfinished reviews of 713 child deaths to a Victoria warehouse after scrapping the children’s commission in 2002.
“I’m appalled. How could that happen?” he asks. “Just like Eveleigh’s case, there are lessons to be learned from those. There might have been information in those files that might have helped Eveleigh. There’s got to be something in there. There’s got to be.”
Bringsli has printed out the missions, goals and objectives of the B.C. Coroners Service Child Death Review. It sits with letters and legal papers on the coffee table in his living room. He’s put asterisks beside the 13 points he considers important such as reviewing deaths in a timely manner, and preventing future deaths.
The B.C. Coroners Service says it has reviewed the cases of 546 children who died after Jan. 1, 2003, but has released a report on only one child’s death since then, compared to more than 700 released by the Children’s Commission in the previous six years.
And two years and three months after Eveleigh’s death, Bringsli is still waiting for the coroner’s report. He phoned coroner Rose Stanton months ago after the criminal case against Literski was concluded.
“She sounded like she was picking up the file anew,” says Bringsli. “I know Rose is working on it but it was supposed to be out more than a month ago and it’s still a couple of weeks away. Maybe she’s going that much deeper. But I feel I had to jump-start the process by contacting her in the first place.”
The coroner’s report and the child death review is important, says Bringsli who is looking for recommendations that relate to Eveleigh’s situation.
“I’m hoping something will be learned from this. . . . It’s long past due to have learned something. But nothing’s been learned yet from Eveleigh’s case that will protect a child in future.”
Although the ministry says information about their services to families must be withheld to protect the family’s privacy, Bringsli has no objection to recommendations about Eveleigh’s death being made public. “It’s got to be out there.”
In a recent interview, Colin Harris, manager of child-death review, said the B.C. Coroners Service will not make public reviews or recommendations on individual cases. Recommendations will be contained in aggregate reports or periodic reports that don’t identify specific cases.
Bringsli says it’s wrong that recommendations won’t be linked to Eveleigh, and wrong that he will probably never know what recommendations were made in her name.
“My hope is that one day these recommendations will be read by the right people and someone will say, ‘You know. I know about this case and it sounds like Eveleigh Rain’s case. Because I know about Eveleigh Rain, I’m going to make that call because I don’t want to see this child get hurt.’”
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2005
You know, I agree with Mr. Bringsli...the Government of British Columbia has an obligation to investigate the death of these precious children, precisely in a real attempt to prevent future incidents.
Not doing so indicates a tendency toward gross negligence.
In Eveleigh's case, I believe that the right professionals could have monitered and supported her mother in order to give her options other than the desperate and criminal action of smothering her own child.
If the government will not be accountable, we, the people must hold our government responsible.
