Stefanie Horvath

Your Honor,

I am a student of Liana Shanti. I have taken her programs and they have helped me heal and grow in many areas of my life. Last year I attempted to leave Canada with my daughter. This was a decision I made on my own. Liana never once encouraged me to take my daughter out of the country. In fact, she has spoken many times to follow the legal process 100%. I failed to follow that advice and I have paid the price for that. Byron Horvath is my ex-husband the defendant in her defamation case against him. We have a daughter named Isla, she is 7 years old.

On March 20, 2022 I attempted to take Isla across the border into the Unites States from Canada. We were denied at the border. I have dealt with being abused by Byron Horvath for 13 years. He abuses my daughter. No one within the police service or social services have been able to help me protect Isla. I have made many reports to Child Protective Services and the Police which I will detail in this letter. Isla was born with a congenital heart defect. She has had 3 open heart surgeries. She is the most amazing little girl. She does not deserve to be treated the way she is, and I want the absolute best medical care for her that I can find. I made an appointment to see a top cardiologist in the United States.

My plan was to take her there and also have a break from the chaos I felt we were in. This decision was the worst decision I have ever made in my life. Isla was removed from my care on April 14, 2022 on the grounds that I was a threat to flee the country. It will forever be the worst day of my life. On May 18th a judge ruled that I was to see Isla twice a month on Saturday at 10-6pm and Sunday 10:30-6pm supervised. Prior to this I was Isla’s primary caregiver. She would go to Byron’s house Thursday to Sunday every other week and 50/50 during holidays.

On May 19, 2022 Liana received death threats. When I heard the voicemails myself I immediately knew it was Byron’s voice. I have endured years of abuse from Byron both during our marriage and then after we separated. These voicemails did not shock me at all. He is someone who I have witnessed to be “above the law”. He can do anything without consequence it seems.

I have had grave concerns over Byron’s drug and alcohol use as well as how he treats our daughter Isla.

I left Byron on August 2, 2016 when Isla was 1 year old. He had spent that entire weekend partying and I realized that he was using cocaine. When I asked what the white stuff was in his nose he told me it was “paint chips”. We had a fight that day and he exploded in a full blown rage on me. He took an essential oils diffuser and smashed it on the floor in front of me. I was holding Isla and he was screaming in my face. I did not feel safe. I got him to leave the house and when I saw him through the window I could see him smashing the steering wheel in his truck. It was very scary. I left that day and went to my parents’ house. I never returned to live in Raymore SK.

In September of 2020 Isla (5 years old) shared with me after a visit at Byron’s house that he held her in a ball and wouldn’t let her go. She told me it made her panic. When Isla shared this with me, she said she was scared he would find out she told me about this incident. I reported this to Child Protective Services. It took 6 weeks for Isla to be interviewed by the Weyburn Police. I had Isla with me that entire time. The police officer who interviewed Isla did not believe there was a serious issue from what Isla had said in the interview.

After this I requested that Byron provide a hair follicle drug test. He refused.

On March 7, 2021 I picked Isla up from being with Byron and Stefanie (his then fiancé). That night when I was helping Isla put her pyjamas on I noticed 3 bruises on her body. One on her leg, a large one on her tailbone and another on her waist. I asked her how she got them. I recorded the conversation about the bruises. She told me that her dad spanked her and locked her in her room. She stated in the recording that her dad says “Children should be spanked”. She told me she was locked in her room for hours. She also told me that her dad spanks her when he is playing and when he is mad.

I reported this to CPS. Isla was interviewed. The social worker believed that nothing was wrong while Isla was in Byron’s care.

On October 10, 2021 Isla told my mother Donna Winter that her dad “does bad things to her.”

On October 22,2021 My sister, Elise Winter took Isla shopping. While they were shopping Isla told Elise that she gets locked in her room and Byron or Stefanie won’t let her out to go pee. She told Elise that she had been peeing on her bedroom floor and covering it up. She told Elise that she got out of her room one time and she thought she was home alone. She said she was so scared. She ended up finding Byron and Stefanie outside smoking.

On October 28, 2021 I decided not to send Isla with Byron. I could not send Isla after what she had shared with my mother Donna, my sister Elise and myself. I have been working to advocate for Isla’s safety since I left Byron in 2016. I have not been successful at all. Every report I have made has not helped me protect Isla in any way. After this attempt at protecting Isla the social worker who investigated this report said she would no longer take calls from me and this case was closed.

Isla has come home from visits with Byron many times with very red private parts. I have taken pictures when it was particularly bad. I am a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of my father Brian Winter and I often had very red and raw private parts as a child.

On May 21, 2022 days after Liana received the death threats, a social worker by the name of Gay Wilderman from Child Protective Services came to my home in Weyburn asking if Isla was in my care. I told her she was not and that I had lost custody of Isla. Gay informed me that CPS received a report on April 29th, 2022 that Isla was being sexually abused and they could not track Byron down. Gay asked me if I knew where Isla was. I told her I thought she was in Moose Jaw with my sister Elise at her boyfriend Cameron Irwin’s house. They contacted my sister and called me back to inform me that Isla was safe with my sister. Nothing ever came out of that report.

In closing, I want to make it very clear that Liana had nothing to do with my decision to attempt to leave Canada with Isla. I made that choice all on my own. Liana’s work has changed my life in a very deep and profound way. It has empowered me to step away from my very abusive family and heal from a deeply traumatic childhood that was filled with sexual, physical, emotional and financial abuse. Byron Horvath as well as my father Brian Winter are not a fan of Liana only because they no longer have any control over my life, and I am speaking the truth loudly.