Prosecutors to rest case in child killing trial

PROVIDENCE—Prosecutors are expected to rest their case next week against a man accused of fatally beating his girlfriend’s 3-year-old nephew.

Gilbert Delestre’s murder trial began last week in Providence Superior Court, with prosecutors accusing the Woonsocket man of killing Thomas “T.J” Wright in October 2004 because he was angry over a mess in the living room of his apartment.

Delestre’s attorney told jurors in opening statements that his client struck the child, causing him to fall down the stairs, but said he did not intend to kill him. Delestre is expected to take the stand after prosecutors conclude their case Monday.

Jurors are likely to get the case next week.

Wright was the nephew of Delestre’s girlfriend, Katherine Bunnell, and was living with the couple along with his two brothers because their mother was in prison out of state for drug trafficking.

Bunnell was convicted in May of second-degree murder and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

The prosecution’s witnesses have so far included the teenager who was baby-sitting the toddler the night he was beaten as well as a doctor and several police officers, including a detective who took a videotaped statement from Delestre in which he admitted striking the child.

The death raised questions about how potential foster parents were screened in Rhode Island and is also cited in a pending federal lawsuit that seeks an overhaul of the state’s foster care system.

A state panel that investigated the death faulted the state Department of Children, Youth and Families and said Wright and his siblings should never have been placed with Bunnell and Delestre, who were unemployed, had juvenile records and were caring for two children of their own.