A Toronto father is left with more questions than answers following the death of his three-year-old son, who he described as his entire world.
Yverson Belotte, who immigrated to Toronto from Haiti in 2008, told Now Toronto that he received the worst news of his life when told his toddler, Quintanni, died in the care of someone his family trusted.
“What was done to my son, I can’t let that go,” the 30-year-old said in an interview on Thursday.
According to Toronto police, officers responded to a medical call at a home in East York on Dec. 3, 2023.
Once they arrived, Quintanni was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said that the day prior to his death, Quintanni was in the care of a family friend and that the two “entered an organization” in the Yonge Street and Bloor Avenue area where he was assaulted inside a washroom.
This is when police said the caregiver and Quintanni returned to her residence in the Dawes Road and Chapman Avenue area before she contacted police the following day.
The woman has since been identified as 22-year-old Shardanae Cousins-Emily and she was charged with second-degree murder.
Belotte shares that Cousins-Emily was someone Quintanni’s mother considered family and who she trusted since childhood. Never in a million years did they think this would happen.
“She got a phone call saying my son passed away in his sleep,” he said.
Despite not getting a call from Cousins-Emily himself, he did get a text message in which she allegedly tells her side of the story.
“She never told me she assaulted my son in the bathroom,” he said.
He said he put the pieces together after reading a news article that said his son was assaulted at “an organization.”
He added that the assault allegedly took place at Toronto’s Children’s Aid Society, where Cousins-Emily took Quintanni to visit and play with her own children who were under the society’s care.
Belotte said the aid office called him on many occasions to share their condolences for his loss and even offered to pay for any lawyer consultations and help with funeral costs.
However, he says the centre did not tell him that his son was attacked in their facility.
He said once he found out, he immediately called the office and one staff member allegedly said they didn’t know how to tell him and that it was currently under police investigation.
“I’m being completely left in the dark. And that’s when I finally go see my son at the coroner’s office,” he said.
Belotte shares that nothing could have prepared him for when he saw his son.
“What was done to his face, I can’t even explain it. She destroyed my son’s face,” he said, holding back emotions.
He added that he did not know the woman lost custody of her own children.
“She was there on supervision, so where was the case worker that was there with her? How come nobody is questioning why she has my son when she’s visiting her kids,” he said.
Belotte believes negligence from different parties resulted in his son’s death and that his life could have been saved on numerous occasions.
“They could have got him to a hospital, not [let her] take my son’s dead body home wrapped in a blanket,” he said.
Now Toronto reached out to the Children’s Aid Society who declined to comment, stating that the Child Youth Family Services Act (2017) prevents the organization from disclosing whether or not it is working with a child, youth or adult.
Additionally, Toronto police said it could not comment any further stating the circumstances surrounding the case is “before the courts.”
For now, Belotte is looking for new legal representation and said he won’t stop fighting for his son.
“That boy changed my life. I didn’t have nothing and I wasn’t doing nothing with my life. I was in the streets. But when I realized I was having a son, everything changed,” he said.
In fact, Belotte said his son inspired him to pick up a trade and became a carpenter, with dreams of starting his own company so he could have continued providing for his child.
“My son was a blessing, he was perfect. He was teaching me how to be a dad and I was learning with him,” he said.
