The public inquiry into the death of Phoenix Sinclair heard explosive testimony on Thursday from Kim Edwards, the child's godmother, whose temper exploded at times during cross-examination.

The inquiry has heard that Edwards and her former husband, Rohan Stephenson, cared for Phoenix on many occasions during the girl's short life.

Phoenix was bounced between foster care, Edwards's home and her own family before she was beaten to death in 2005, at the age of five, by her mother, Samantha Kematch, and Karl McKay, Kematch's boyfriend.

Kematch and McKay were convicted in 2008 of first-degree murder in connection with Phoenix's death.

Edwards, who began testifying at the inquiry on Wednesday, faced tough questions on Thursday based on Manitoba Child and Family Services (CFS) records on Phoenix's care and other documents.

Edwards refuted the information contained in almost every CFS record, calling some of the details "outright lies" and suggesting that CFS workers fabricate documents.

Lawyers also grilled Edwards about whether she went to CFS authorities with her concerns about Phoenix in April 2004, after Kematch took the girl from Edwards's home.

"We didn't think she was in danger because nobody knew that this woman was a psychopath except for the CFS workers who had her in-care file," Edwards responded.

"I didn't have her in-care file, like all these social workers who went out and touched this case."

Inquiry commissioner Ted Hughes called for several breaks in Thursday's hearing to allow Edwards to calm down, but she still made some shocking claims in her testimony, including one statement about Kematch.

"We didn't know Samantha was going to do this. Had I [known], I would have eliminated Samantha," Edwards told the inquiry.

CFS document to remain sealed

Earlier on Thursday, Hughes decided against unsealing a CFS file on Edwards's own involvement with the CFS system.

Edwards revealed on Wednesday that when she was a teenager, her own daughter was apprehended by CFS because Edwards was in an abusive relationship at the time.

Lawyers for CFS had wanted that file, dating back to when Edwards was 17 years old, entered into evidence. But Hughes instructed lawyer Kris Saxberg to return the document to wherever it had come from.

Edwards and Stephenson cared for Phoenix many times, including in the summer of 2003, when Phoenix had been taken from her father, Steven Sinclair.

While Phoenix was killed by Kematch and McKay in 2005, her body was found in March 2006 — nine months later — wrapped in plastic in an unmarked shallow grave near the landfill on the Fisher River First Nation.

The Phoenix Sinclair inquiry is looking at how CFS officials handled the girl's case and why her death went undiscovered for months.

The inquiry adjourned after Edwards's testimony concluded on Thursday and will resume on Monday.

With files from The Canadian Press