A man told the court on Thursday he was willing to accept punishment after pleading guilty to second-degree murder over the death of his three-year-old daughter.
“I accept punishment and follow God’s law,” said Frank Nausigimana, 29, through an American sign language interpreter.
Jemimah Bunadalian was found stabbed in the car seat in her mother’s vehicle last July.
A consensual statement read in court said Nausigimana had approached her mother’s vehicle outside her daughter’s daycare in Winnipeg.
Nausigimana had a knife, was forced into the car and ordered her mother to drive, according to the story.
The woman was baffled and when she told him to change seats with him, she took the opportunity to run away, believing that Nausigimana would not hurt her daughter.
Photos of three-year-old Jemimah sitting by candlelight during a vigil for the Winnipeg girl on July 10, 2021. (Submitted by 204 Neighborhood Watch / The Canadian Press)
But Nausigimana stopped the car a short distance away and shortly after stopping, he parked a passing vehicle and told the driver to call 911 because he had just killed his daughter, according to the agreed facts.
The minor was found with stab wounds to the heart and chest.
Nausigimana was charged with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge in an agreement with Crown prosecutors.
When asked if he understood his plea, Nausigimana said, “Yes, I admit I’m guilty.”
The sentencing hearing is scheduled for September.
The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for 10 years. The Crown is asking for Nausigimana to serve 19 years before she is eligible for parole, while the defense is asking for 17 years.
An obituary of the girl said that Jemimah made the most of every second of her short life and always said, “I love you.”
A still image of a 2011 video from a Calvary Temple service shows Frank Nausigimana, who was charged with first-degree murder for the death of his three-year-old daughter, Jemimah, last July. Nausigimana pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on his death. (CanadaWinnipegMBDeaf / YouTube)
Her mother is also deaf, and when she was one year old, Jemimah learned the sign language alphabet.
Police said Nausigimana and her mother had not been in a relationship for some time and had not been in contact for many months before the girl was killed.
Nausigimana was previously convicted of assaulting her mother in 2017 when she was pregnant. The court learned that he had tried to force an abortion by making her drink a liquid mixture of salt, water and vodka against her will.
The mother was granted a protection order that same year, but shortly afterwards applied for revocation. She and her father went to the same church and she wanted him to attend the services.
Nausigimana was sentenced to one year in prison for assault.
During this hearing, the court was told that he came to Canada as a refugee from Burundi as a teenager. He lost his ear when he had meningitis as a child.
Nausigimana’s mother moved to Ottawa and left him in foster care in Winnipeg. He remained in care until the age of 21.