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Crown outlines child's terrible injuries as murder trial begins
Tracy Huffman
Staff Reporter
When Randal Dooley arrived from his native Jamaica in 1997 he was a healthy boy who showed no signs of abuse. Teachers described the 7-year-old as good-natured, an athlete who played well with other children and a "sponge just soaking up everything in his class."
Ten months later emergency workers arrived at the boy's home to find a battered body with 14 fractured ribs, a lacerated liver, four separate brain injuries and a missing tooth, later found in his stomach, a court has been told.
The day before Randal died of a brain injury, he took almost four hours to eat his breakfast of cornflakes mixed with a hotdog, vomited five times and was ordered to clean it up, prosecutor Rita Zaied told a jury in her opening address at the trial of Randal's parents.
His father, Edward "Tony" Dooley, 36, and stepmother, Marcia Dooley, 31, have been charged with second-degree murder.
For months before his death, Randal had lost control of his bladder and bowels and would vomit after taking hours to eat a meal, Zaied said.
After his breakfast on Sept. 24, 1998, Randal "wet himself and pooed himself," Zaied said.
"Marcia Dooley told him to go clean himself up, to take a shower and to put on his pull-ups (diapers) and to rinse out his underwear."
Less than 24 hours later he was dead.
When the police were called to the house they found an extremely battered body, Zaied said while outlining the anticipated evidence at the Superior Court trial before Mr. Justice Eugene Ewaschuk.
"You will hear that Randal in November, 1997, at the age of 6 came to this country healthy and happy with no signs of abuse on his body," Zaied said. "Ten months later he was dead with scarring to his entire body from head to toe, from back to front."
Medical experts will testify that some of the injuries on Randal's body were inflicted within hours of his death, other's months earlier, Zaied said.
Randal was pronounced dead in his second-floor bedroom of the family's McCowan Rd. townhouse minutes after Tony phoned 911.
"He (Tony) indicated that his 7-year-old son had committed suicide, that he was not breathing and he was as stiff as a board," Zaied told the eight women and four men on the jury.
And when emergency workers arrived at the house, Zaied said Marcia and Tony were downstairs. No one was at the boy's side.
Tony was on the phone and had to be told twice by a firefighter — the first to arrive — to hang up so they could get vital information from him.
"Tony Dooley appeared annoyed with the interruption," Zaied said. "He got off the phone and immediately went to the fridge and took out two frozen hot dogs and placed them in boiling water."
It wasn't until then that Tony finally told the firefighter his son had fallen from the top of his bunk the night before, the prosecutor said.
Police seized a number of items from the house, she said, including soiled clothes and a bungee cord that was found hanging from a planter in the family's living room.
Autopsy pictures show injuries in the shape of the metal ends on Randal's body, she said.
Later Tony, Marcia and Edward Jr. — Randal's older brother, known as Teego — told police conflicting stories of the boy's last hours, Zaied said.
"Marcia Dooley claimed that Randal was climbing the bunk bed ladder and when she told him to come down . . . he fell from the ladder and when he fell he did not cry but he made a sound which she describes as a whoa-whoa sound," she said.
Teego, Zaied said, will likely tell the jury that Marcia assaulted Randal. Later he fell climbing up the ladder and never spoke again.
Randal and Teego, the children of Tony Dooley and Racquel Burth, were born in Jamaica and lived with Tony's sister Beatrice after Tony left for Canada a year after Randal was born, court heard.
Tony married Marcia in 1992 and in November, 1997, Randal and Teego came to live with the couple. About two weeks after their arrival, Tony went to the United States, leaving Marcia with both boys until he returned in May, 1998.
By then, Marcia had delivered the couple a baby of their own.
In April, 1998, a teacher at Glamorgan Public School noticed Randal had several welts and bruises on his arms, Zaied said. She looked at the thin boy's back and saw more than 25 marks on his back.
The teacher informed the principal, who contacted the police, and an investigation began, Zaied said as Marcia and Tony Dooley sat with their heads down in the prisoner's box.
Marcia told friends that Randal was soiling his pants and that he took a long time to eat meals and would often vomit several times a day. Tony's sister in Jamaica told him to take Randal to a doctor. Tony said Marcia had taken the boy and was told nothing was wrong, Zaied said.
But Zaied said there is no evidence that Randal saw a doctor.
In September, 1998, Randal was not registered for school. In a statement made to police after his son's death, Tony said Randal did not go to school because around Aug. 30, he "flogged Randal with a belt" on his buttocks and lower back and was afraid there could be children's aid involvement, Zaied said.
The trial continues today.
Crown outlines child's terrible injuries as murder trial begins
Tracy Huffman
Staff Reporter
When Randal Dooley arrived from his native Jamaica in 1997 he was a healthy boy who showed no signs of abuse. Teachers described the 7-year-old as good-natured, an athlete who played well with other children and a "sponge just soaking up everything in his class."
Ten months later emergency workers arrived at the boy's home to find a battered body with 14 fractured ribs, a lacerated liver, four separate brain injuries and a missing tooth, later found in his stomach, a court has been told.
The day before Randal died of a brain injury, he took almost four hours to eat his breakfast of cornflakes mixed with a hotdog, vomited five times and was ordered to clean it up, prosecutor Rita Zaied told a jury in her opening address at the trial of Randal's parents.
His father, Edward "Tony" Dooley, 36, and stepmother, Marcia Dooley, 31, have been charged with second-degree murder.
For months before his death, Randal had lost control of his bladder and bowels and would vomit after taking hours to eat a meal, Zaied said.
After his breakfast on Sept. 24, 1998, Randal "wet himself and pooed himself," Zaied said.
"Marcia Dooley told him to go clean himself up, to take a shower and to put on his pull-ups (diapers) and to rinse out his underwear."
Less than 24 hours later he was dead.
When the police were called to the house they found an extremely battered body, Zaied said while outlining the anticipated evidence at the Superior Court trial before Mr. Justice Eugene Ewaschuk.
"You will hear that Randal in November, 1997, at the age of 6 came to this country healthy and happy with no signs of abuse on his body," Zaied said. "Ten months later he was dead with scarring to his entire body from head to toe, from back to front."
Medical experts will testify that some of the injuries on Randal's body were inflicted within hours of his death, other's months earlier, Zaied said.
Randal was pronounced dead in his second-floor bedroom of the family's McCowan Rd. townhouse minutes after Tony phoned 911.
"He (Tony) indicated that his 7-year-old son had committed suicide, that he was not breathing and he was as stiff as a board," Zaied told the eight women and four men on the jury.
And when emergency workers arrived at the house, Zaied said Marcia and Tony were downstairs. No one was at the boy's side.
Tony was on the phone and had to be told twice by a firefighter — the first to arrive — to hang up so they could get vital information from him.
"Tony Dooley appeared annoyed with the interruption," Zaied said. "He got off the phone and immediately went to the fridge and took out two frozen hot dogs and placed them in boiling water."
It wasn't until then that Tony finally told the firefighter his son had fallen from the top of his bunk the night before, the prosecutor said.
Police seized a number of items from the house, she said, including soiled clothes and a bungee cord that was found hanging from a planter in the family's living room.
Autopsy pictures show injuries in the shape of the metal ends on Randal's body, she said.
Later Tony, Marcia and Edward Jr. — Randal's older brother, known as Teego — told police conflicting stories of the boy's last hours, Zaied said.
"Marcia Dooley claimed that Randal was climbing the bunk bed ladder and when she told him to come down . . . he fell from the ladder and when he fell he did not cry but he made a sound which she describes as a whoa-whoa sound," she said.
Teego, Zaied said, will likely tell the jury that Marcia assaulted Randal. Later he fell climbing up the ladder and never spoke again.
Randal and Teego, the children of Tony Dooley and Racquel Burth, were born in Jamaica and lived with Tony's sister Beatrice after Tony left for Canada a year after Randal was born, court heard.
Tony married Marcia in 1992 and in November, 1997, Randal and Teego came to live with the couple. About two weeks after their arrival, Tony went to the United States, leaving Marcia with both boys until he returned in May, 1998.
By then, Marcia had delivered the couple a baby of their own.
In April, 1998, a teacher at Glamorgan Public School noticed Randal had several welts and bruises on his arms, Zaied said. She looked at the thin boy's back and saw more than 25 marks on his back.
The teacher informed the principal, who contacted the police, and an investigation began, Zaied said as Marcia and Tony Dooley sat with their heads down in the prisoner's box.
Marcia told friends that Randal was soiling his pants and that he took a long time to eat meals and would often vomit several times a day. Tony's sister in Jamaica told him to take Randal to a doctor. Tony said Marcia had taken the boy and was told nothing was wrong, Zaied said.
But Zaied said there is no evidence that Randal saw a doctor.
In September, 1998, Randal was not registered for school. In a statement made to police after his son's death, Tony said Randal did not go to school because around Aug. 30, he "flogged Randal with a belt" on his buttocks and lower back and was afraid there could be children's aid involvement, Zaied said.
The trial continues today.
