REMEMBERING DOMENIC & GEMINI

Domenic Ryu Brown and his baby sister, Gemini Brown, were two very young children whose lives ended together in a Calgary apartment. Domenic was born February 9, 2000. Just over a year later, on February 24, 2001, Gemini was born. By the spring of 2001, their parents' relationship had ended. Domenic and Gemini were living with their mother, Rie Fujii, who had become increasingly isolated and overwhelmed while caring for two babies. The circumstances surrounding the adults in their lives were complicated. Domenic and Gemini's needs were not. They needed food. They needed water. They needed someone present when they cried. They needed an adult to keep them alive. At fifteen months and less than three months old, neither child had any ability to provide those things for themselves.

DOMENIC & GEMINI’S STORY

Rie Fujii had come to Canada from Japan and later entered a relationship with Peter Brown, the children's father. Their relationship became troubled and abusive. The sentencing court later found that Peter had failed to provide emotional, physical or financial support for the children and had been physically and emotionally abusive toward Rie. By 2001, Rie was raising Domenic and newborn Gemini largely on her own. She had overstayed her immigration status and feared that seeking assistance could lead to her deportation. The sentencing court described her as isolated, without meaningful family or social support and living in extremely sparse conditions with two infants she was struggling to care for. But none of those circumstances changed what happened to Domenic and Gemini. In the spring of 2001, Rie began a relationship with another man who eventually moved to Cochrane, Alberta. On May 8, Rie left Domenic and Gemini alone in their Calgary apartment and traveled to Cochrane to stay with him. She left a bottle for each child. She did not arrange for an adult to remain with them. She stayed away for ten days. Domenic was fifteen months old. Gemini was not yet three months old. Alone inside the apartment, the babies had no way to obtain additional food or fluids, summon help or leave. Both children died from the consequences of being abandoned without care. Court records describe the children as dying while left unattended, and later accounts identify starvation and dehydration as the causes. When Rie finally returned to the apartment, she found both of her children dead. She did not call police. Instead, she placed Gemini's body in a plastic bag and disposed of her in a dumpster. Domenic's body was wrapped in a comforter and left inside the apartment. Rie then left again. Domenic remained inside the apartment for approximately two weeks. On June 5, 2001, the landlord entered after receiving no response to an eviction notice and detected the odor coming from the apartment. Police were called. They found Domenic. Gemini's body was never recovered after Rie disclosed that she had placed her in a dumpster. Rie Fujii was arrested the following day.

WARNING SIGNS

The circumstances surrounding Domenic and Gemini contained serious warning signs, but I do not find enough reliable evidence to characterize their case as a documented child welfare system failure. Rie was isolated and struggling. She had previously accessed community assistance but stopped seeking services because she feared that her lack of legal immigration status would be discovered. The sentencing court found that she lacked meaningful family and social support and had experienced physical and emotional abuse from the children's father. None of those circumstances excused abandoning two babies. They do, however, help explain the increasingly isolated environment in which Domenic and Gemini were living. Rie had also begun leaving the children alone before the fatal abandonment, sometimes remaining away overnight. By May 8, 2001, that pattern escalated catastrophically. Rie left two completely dependent children alone and remained away for ten days.

There was no adult present to notice their hunger. No one responded when they cried. No one gave them another bottle when the ones left behind were empty. And no one came through the apartment door in time to save them.

JUSTICE FOR DOMENIC & GEMINI

Rie Fujii was initially charged with two counts of second degree murder. The case ultimately concluded with guilty pleas to two counts of manslaughter for the deaths of Domenic and Gemini. On September 9, 2002, Justice Peter Martin of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench imposed an eight year sentence. Because Rie had already spent approximately fifteen months in custody before sentencing and received credit for that time at the then applicable rate, she had approximately five and a half years remaining to serve. This is why some summaries confusingly describe the sentence as five and a half years while others call it eight years. The underlying sentence was eight years, with pre sentence custody credited against it.

 

Rie Fujii

Relationship to Domenic & Gemini: Mother

Conviction(s): Two counts of manslaughter

Sentence: 8 years in prison, with credit for pre sentence custody

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Ten days is a short period in an adult life. For Domenic and Gemini, it was the difference between life and death. Gemini had been alive for less than three months.

She was still an infant who needed to be fed throughout the day and night and depended entirely on someone else to hold her, comfort her and recognize every need she could express only through cries. Domenic was fifteen months old. He was old enough to move around and experience more of the world around him, but nowhere near old enough to understand why his mother had disappeared or how to keep himself and his baby sister alive. They were alone together. Their deaths later became a criminal case studied by courts, academics and advocates.

But Domenic and Gemini were never merely the facts of R. v. Fujii.

They were a brother and sister.

Domenic had lived long enough to become a big brother.

Gemini had spent virtually her entire short life with him.

Neither child chose the circumstances into which they were born.

Neither was responsible for the difficulties experienced by the adults around them.

And neither should have paid for those difficulties with their life.

Domenic and Gemini deserved someone to come home.

They deserved to grow up together.

Abuse Angels remembers Domenic Ryu Brown and Gemini Brown.

Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.