In exclusive audio obtained by W5, a caseworker from Greater Toronto’s Jewish Children and Families Authority, admits to alerting her bosses to Robin Brown’s escalating behavior, just days before he and his daughter, Keira, were found dead at the bottom of a cliff at Ontario’s Rattlesnake Point, a reserve west of Toronto. Brown had some parenting time with Keira that weekend.
Keira’s mother, Jennifer Kagan-Viater, and her current husband, Philip Viater, said the caseworker, known only as Amanda in the tape, visited them 10 days after the four-year-old’s death. Philip, a family attorney, recorded that conversation.
Amanda said: “The behaviors (Robin Brown) exhibited were the same as those seen in people going out and killing their children. “I’m not denying it, I’m chilling. I don’t deny saying it and I’ve been very clear with my manager and upper management.”
In a Statement of Complaint filed by Viaters Superior Court in Ontario on June 22, 2021, the couple named Jewish Children and Family Services, the officer in charge, and several other defendants .
They allege that in the months leading up to Keira’s death, Brown displayed “escalating behavior” such as failing to return Keira to Jennifer and Philip three times.
“She has to be home at a certain time and we are waiting. We were waiting and Keira was not there. It was horrifying,” Jennifer said.
For Keira’s safety, Jennifer filed an emergency petition on January 1, 2020 to monitor or suspend Brown’s access to Keira.
Jennifer said: ‘This is an extremely dangerous predator who should never have an unsupervised time with this little girl.
The judge presiding over that urgent motion, Justice George MacPherson, found the evidence “convincing and convincing” but adjourned the matter so the Jewish Children and Families Agency could complete its investigation.
The judge said the organization has “ears and eyes on the ground” and can “request emergency relief at any time during the investigation.”
In the recording, the officer in charge of that investigation, and who interviewed Brown, tells Jennifer and Philip that she has “no evidence that he would do something like this.” But she admitted that she had a bad feeling.
“Do I have a gut feeling? Not that he was going to kill her,” she explained. “But I have a gut feeling that he’s going to escalate.”
Incredibly, Jennifer says this isn’t the first time the caseworker has told the family about these concerns. Jennifer said she received a call from her caseworker on Friday, February 7, just days before Keira died.
Jennifer told W5: “(She) admitted that Mr. Brown was the type of person to kill or harm his own child to get back at me.
“And she said she contacted her supervisor and she wanted an application for protection. And the supervisor has said that can wait until Monday. “
Keira was found dead a day earlier, on Sunday, February 9, 2020.
In their Statement of Complaint, Jennifer and Philip allege that Jewish Children and Family Services and its employees “failed to protect” Keira, and “knew or ought to have known that Keira was in grave danger.” and cannot interfere.”
W5 asked Jewish Children and Family Services for a video interview, but it declined to comment on any “contact the organization may have or may have with a family.” , citing confidentiality.
Jennifer and Philip say the failure of Jewish Children and Family Services is the last in a long series of systemic failures before Keira’s death.
And they believe that Keira’s death is not random but a revenge murder committed by Robin Brown.
The coroner’s report did not determine a cause of death, but noted that Halton Regional Police had identified multiple risk factors for domestic violence in Keira’s father. The case has been referred to the Domestic Violence Mortality Assessment Commission of Ontario.
Jennifer says there are signs her ex-husband could be dangerous, explaining how he emotionally and physically abused her. But she said the worst of it involved his controlling behavior, which began shortly after they married in 2013.
“He was behaving more and more controlling me,” she explained. “I claim to have passwords for all of your devices. I was bound to know your whereabouts all the time, you know, getting super jealous,” she said.
In 2017, when she tried to bring up concerns about Robin Brown’s abuse during a trial involving Keira’s custody, Justice Douglas Gray said, “I’m going to ignore it, it’s not involve.”
Professor Peter Jaffe, an expert on violence against women and children at Western University in London, Ont., says it is a grave mistake. Because if a mother is at risk, he says that children are also at risk.
“They are at risk emotionally and psychologically in that environment, and they can run the risk of being injured in combat or being killed in extreme cases,” he said.
Jaffe says judges must take domestic violence more seriously. “It is a matter of life and death that someone is willing to abuse their partner and who has significant risk factors; Jaffe said.
It may be hard to believe, but in Canada, every year 30-40 children are murdered by their parents.
According to Jaffe, the killers of parents’ children in Canada are 60% of fathers and 40% of mothers.
“Women murder is linked to mental health disorders, postpartum depression,” says Jaffe. “Men tend to kill people as an act of revenge for their partner leaving the relationship.”
Jaffe says the problem is often that judges want both parents to have access to their children, which he admits is a great idea for the majority of couples to separate or divorce.
“But unfortunately, for 10 to 20 percent of couples who separate when there are some serious issues surrounding child abuse and domestic or intimate partner violence, those issues need to be addressed. completely different thinking,” Jaffe added.
Following her ordeal, Jennifer is advocating for mandatory domestic violence training for judges. A new bill for private members, called the ‘Keira law,’ which would expand judicial training in intimate partner violence and coercive control, will be read for a second time in the House of Commons on end of April.
Catch W5’s ‘Father Who Kill’ at 7pm local time on CTV
