The ex-husband of a South Surrey mother convicted of second degree murder in the 2014 smothering death of their eight-year-old daughter will not be grieving her recent death.
“Certainly the death of a child murderer is not going to bring any mourning from our family, but the reality is her death doesn’t erase the pain or the loss of Teagan, which we live with every day,” Gabe Batstone told Black Press Media Wednesday (Jan. 3), via phone from Ottawa. “Obviously nothing will bring her back.”
A Jan. 3 Correctional Service of Canada release confirmed that Lisa Batstone, 50, died while in custody at Fraser Valley Institution in Abbotsford on Jan. 1, 2024. No cause of death has been released.
Convicted in 2019, Batstone received a sentence of life without eligibility for parole for 15 years, imposed by trial judge Justice Catherine Murray.
Police discovered Batstone with the body of her daughter Teagan on Dec. 10, 2014, in the back of a car that was stuck in a ditch in a cul-de-sac off Crescent Road in South Surrey.
Batstone, who had previously attempted suicide, claimed that she had intended to end her life and had killed Teagan to save her the pain of what Batstone claimed was psychological and emotional abuse at the hands of her ex-husband.
READ MORE: Lisa Batstone fails in appeal of 15-year sentence for daughter’s murder
A bid to overturn her conviction failed in the fall of 2021, when appeal-court judges found that the trial judge had not erred in her conclusion that Batstone had intended to kill her daughter.
On Wednesday (Jan. 3), her ex-husband noted in a statement he released with his wife, Stephanie, that “with Lisa Batstone’s demise, a significant burden has been lifted. We no longer face the daunting prospect of her potential release, an event that would have posed an undeniable risk to other innocent children. The safety of our family and community from a convicted child murderer is now assured, bringing a substantial relief amidst our enduring grief.”
Over the phone, he re-iterated the sentiment.
“Our family is safer today and for that, I have relief,” he said.
The founder and CEO of an artificial intelligence company based in Canada that works primarily in aerospace and defence, Gabe emphasized that he and his family’s “primary focus remains honouring Teagan’s memory and cherishing the joy she brought into our lives.”
“One of the things we did in memory of Teagan, is we started a not-for-profit – Teagan’s Voice – where we try to drive change for the protection of children – it’s on Facebook, online… our focus is currently ‘If you see something, say something,’” he said.
“We need to take care of the kids in our community, so we encourage everyone if you see something, say something… let’s all take our own responsibility for the safety of children in our care.”
In May of 2022 Batstone’s lawyers also failed in a further attempt to appeal her sentence.
Batstone’s counsel team, headed by lawyer Eric Gottardi, had argued for the sentence to be reduced to eligibility for parole after 10 years.
They claimed that Murray had not given sufficient consideration to the role mental disorders and intoxication had played in Batstone’s actions, and that the sentencing was also invalid due to errors of fact Murray had made about the plastic bag used to suffocate Batstone’s daughter Teagan and the length of time it had taken.
Murray’s sentencing decision was upheld by the judgment.
It found that errors of fact and “misapprehensions” that Murray had about how the crime might have been committed had not affected the verdict that Batstone’s killing of her daughter was deliberate, or the subsequent sentencing.
The judgment found that Murray had given due consideration to mental disorders Batstone was experiencing that were raised by defence experts during the trial, and had, correctly, focused on “determining her mental state at the time of the act.”
It also supported Murray’s finding that Batstone’s actions before and after the crime were “purposeful and goal-directed” – including leaving a letter and notes prior to unsuccessful attempts to commit suicide that blamed her ex-husband and others for what she had done.
– files from Tracy Holmes