TORONTO -- For more than 15 years, the wife of a man accused of killing his 17-year-old daughter kept the girl's death a secret, explaining to a Toronto court on Tuesday that she maintained her silence because she feared her "monster" of a husband.
It was only when confessing details of her troubled past to a pastor in southern Ontario in 2011 that Elaine Biddersingh revealed that the body of a girl found in a burning suitcase north of Toronto in 1994 was her stepdaughter, Melonie, court heard.
"I told him about Melonie, that she died in the apartment and her body was burned and it was all over the news," she testified. "He said 'Sister, I gotta go to the police.' I said, 'Pastor, do what you gotta do."'
Elaine Biddersingh -- also charged in the case and facing a separate murder trial next year -- was testifying at the trial of her husband, Everton Biddersingh, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Melonie's death.
The jury has been told that Elaine Biddersingh's pastor gave the information to police -- a tip which helped them eventually crack the case which had lain dormant for years.
Melonie's identity -- a mystery after her frail, charred body was discovered -- was confirmed and police arrested the Everton Biddersingh and his wife in March 2012.
Elaine Biddersingh has testified that her husband was abusive and controlled everyone in the family. She told the court he kicked her, called her names and frequently hit her in the face.
She also testified she routinely called police to complain about her husband in the early years of their marriage but stopped doing so after a time because "every time they come, they do nothing."
Under cross-examination from her husband's defence lawyer, however, court heard that there are only three police records of 911 calls regarding domestic instances involving Biddersingh and her family.
When defence lawyer Genevieve McInnes suggested that Biddersingh was lying about being abused by her husband, the 54-year-old vehemently denied it.
"My suggestion to you, Elaine, is that you fabricated this entire story about Everton constantly beating you because you wanted sympathy from police," McInnes said.
"Police cannot give me sympathy; Jesus Christ give me sympathy," Biddersingh retorted forcefully. "I do not fabricate things."
"You wanted police and Crown attorneys to believe you were a victim; you were thinking that was the only way you'd avoid criminal consequences," McInnes continued.
"I know if I don't open my mouth and talk, we wouldn't be standing there. You wouldn't have a job," Biddersingh said. "So that's not correct."
The trial has heard that Melonie and two brothers came from Jamaica, where they were born, to Canada in 1991 to live with their father and stepmother.
Jurors have heard that the children were not sent to school, despite wanting to attend, and were allegedly mistreated. Melonie's younger brother, Dwayne, died accidentally in June 1992.
Biddersingh told court that her husband routinely hit Melonie with a belt, confined her in a tiny closet and rationed her food when he was angry with her.
When Melonie died, Biddersingh said she suspected the teen's death was due to malnourishment, as her father had been restricting the girl's food.
She told the jury her husband came to her one evening saying the girl was dead, and led her to a hall closet where he poked at the teen's body with his foot.
Biddersingh told the jury that after she accompanied her husband -- on his orders -- to the location where the suitcase carrying Melonie's body was set on fire, she was told by him to explain the teen's disappearance by saying she had run away to the U.S. with friends.
She didn't report the truth because she was frightened, court heard.
"I didn't tell nobody because I was in fear, I couldn't talk (about) anything," she said.
