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Funeral congregation struggles to shake images of Toronto girl's battered body

Canadian Press Article online since August 11st 2008, 23:00
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Funeral congregation struggles to shake images of Toronto girl's battered body
Bernice Sampson (right), mother of seven-year-old Katelynn Sampson, is comforted as she watches her daughter's casket as it is loaded in a waiting hearse following her funeral in Toronto on Tuesday August 12, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
TORONTO - Hundreds of mourners reminisced about the effervescent smile of a seven-year-old Toronto girl Tuesday at a funeral service where many struggled to shake horrific images of a tiny, battered body that painted a grim picture of how the girl suffered.
Parishioners wept uncontrollably and parents clutched their young children at the emotional service for Katelynn Sampson, who was found dead by police on Aug. 2 after someone in her home called 911.
Although the caller said the girl had choked on food and was not breathing, police said they found the girl dead with "obvious signs of trauma to the body." Soon after, officers laid charges of second-degree murder against her caregivers.
Screams of anguish were heard outside a funeral home on Monday after friends and loved ones saw the grotesque injuries to Katelynn's battered body. The once chubby-cheeked girl was slender in her coffin with bruises and stitches crossing her face.
Even heavily caked-on makeup could not hide the injuries, said family and friends.
Family members tearfully read prayers and poems dedicated to the girl at her funeral service, and some mourners had to walk out as a song about child abuse, "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride, was played.
Rev. Harry Klassen acknowledged the horrible guilt some feel for not helping Katelynn but urged those in attendance to use her tragic death to help prevent other tragedies.
"If we listen carefully, Katelynn is delivering a message to us, her voice in death cries out to us saying, 'Stop the violence, stop the abuse of drugs and alcohol, stop the abuse of children and the weak,"' Klassen said.
"Katelynn says from the bottom of her heart: choose life, not death. But will we listen?"
The message was embraced by friends and family outside the church, who hoped no other child would ever have to suffer like Katelynn did.
"We can't forget (what she endured)," said close family friend Tracey Rodda.
"To forget is to not do anything, and something has to be done to stop this type of stuff from happening."
Other mourners could barely contain their anger, particularly those who saw the little girl's body at the funeral home.
"(Those responsible) should rot in hell and I don't blame their mother for saying they should die," said Laurie Brooks, whose young daughter was friends with Katelynn.
Police said the girl slept on a bedroom floor of her caregiver's home and showed signs of having been assaulted on an ongoing basis.
Police have said autopsy results would be significantly delayed because of the severity of her injuries, which one officer said were the worst he had seen in 20 years of policing.
Legal guardian Donna Irving and her boyfriend Warren Johnson are charged with second-degree murder.
The girl had been staying with the couple while her mother dealt with personal problems.
Ontario's opposition parties and the province's child advocate have called for an inquest into Katelynn's death and an overhaul of the Children's Law Reform Act.
Irwin Elman, Ontario's advocate for children and youth, said the laws that are supposed to protect kids "all failed" the little girl.
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