'What happened to Xavier?': Case against Ont. father accused of killing infant son hinges on circumstantial evidence

The Bond Street Superior Court of Justice in Oshawa, Ont. can be seen above. (Durham Regional Police/Twitter)

It’s been nearly three years since 9-week-old Xavier Wilkinson died due to complications arising from a brain injury, yet his mother still doesn’t – and may never – know exactly what happened to him, a prosecutor told the jury at the murder trial for the boy’s father on Monday afternoon.

"What happened to Xavier is what this case is all about," Crown prosecutor Mareike Newhouse told a jury at the Oshawa Superior Court of Justice in her opening remarks. "There is no witness we can call who saw what happened to the baby. There is no direct evidence we can present."

Xavier died at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children on Dec. 7. About two weeks earlier, his mother found him seemingly injured after having been briefly supervised by the accused, Alvin Serrano.

Wearing a white button-down shirt and black tie, Serrano, 25, pleaded not guilty Monday to one count of second-degree murder and one count of assault causing bodily harm laid on him by Durham Regional Police Service in connection with the infant's death.

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Xavier was born on Sept. 21, 2020 “without complications and healthy,” Newhouse told the jury.

“And for the first seven weeks of his life, that’s how he stayed – healthy – he did all the things newborn babies do,” Newhouse said. “He cried when he was hungry, uncomfortable or when he wanted his mother, but on Nov. 21, 2020, he lost his cry.”

At the time of Xavier’s death, Serrano had recently moved into a residence in Ajax, Ont. with Wilkinson. The two were in a romantic relationship, but Serrano had become increasingly unsatisfied with the living arrangement, Newhouse said.

The prosecutor suggested that, in the months leading up to their son’s death, the couple had begun to argue increasingly, over one topic in particular – Serrano’s handling of Xavier. He was repeatedly failing to support his son's head or neck when holding him, Newhouse told the jury.

“Ms. Wilkinson was uncomfortable, so she tried to educate him,” Newhouse said. “But this became a problem, it upset Mr. Serrano, it led to more arguments.”

On Nov. 21, 2020, just about two months into Xavier's life, one such argument became so heated that Wilkinson decided she needed out of her home, leaving her son alone with Serrano, the attorney told the jury. It wasn’t for long, she said, “but by the time she came back, something was wrong."

“Xavier had stopped crying. Instead, he was making a strange sound – a sound she had never heard before,” Newhouse told the court.

Fearing her son was no longer breathing, Wilkinson reportedly attempted CPR on the infant before calling 911.

Testing completed at SickKids revealed that Xavier had suffered swelling in his brain and a brain bleed, despite no external sign of injury. The child had also presented with five broken ribs that a pathologist later found had been sustained weeks before the Nov. 21 incident.

It wasn't until eight months after Xavier's death, in August 2021, that Serrano was arrested and charged in connection with his son's death. He was released on bail shortly after.

With no direct evidence to put forth, Newsome told the jury what happened to Xavier that was for them to decide.

"The case against Alvin Serrano is circumstantial," she said.

The trial will be presided over by Justice Laura Bird and deliberated upon by a 12-person jury, selected Monday morning. The defence will present its case in the latter half of proceedings, likely in late January.

The trial is expected to take four weeks and conclude no later than Feb. 9, Bird said.