A Winnipeg Child and Family Services manager testified Wednesday the case of a Manitoba girl who was beaten to death by her mother and mother's boyfriend was “average.”

Dan Berg is a former senior manager with the CFS agency and testified before the Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry about the handling of Sinclair’s file.

The inquiry is examining the circumstances around the death of five-year-old Sinclair, who was killed in 2005 on Fisher River First Nation.

Her mother, Samantha Kematch, and her mother’s boyfriend, Karl McKay, were convicted in 2008 of first-degree murder in her death.

Sinclair spent much of her short life in the care of several child and family services agencies, before she was beaten to death. Her death went undetected by workers for nine months.

Berg was responsible for overseeing the work of supervisors handling Sinclair’s file.

Sinclair was apprehended twice and had agency involvement every year of her life. Sinclair’s siblings had also been apprehended, and one of Kematch’s children was a permanent ward of CFS.

Berg testified Sinclair’s file was not unique.

“If you ask my opinion – 32 years in child welfare – I would say it probably was average,” said Berg. “Slightly above average in terms of risk possibly in some areas, at certain points in the case.”

Testimony was heard earlier this week from multiple CFS workers who said a tip about abuse and calls from a concerned caregiver did not warrant opening a child-protection file or a need for workers to see Sinclair directly.

Berg said Sinclair’s situation became higher risk only when Kematch’s live-in boyfriend, McKay entered the picture.

“I think that might have tipped the balance at that point in terms of it being a higher risk,” said Berg.

Berg oversaw the work of a supervisor who signed off on a social worker’s decision to close Sinclair’s file in March 2005, despite a tip about abuse and Sinclair never being seen. He testified that was not normal policy.

“In that window of time there should have been a review of that file,” said Berg.

Sinclair was killed three months later, after months of abuse.

Berg’s testimony was expected to continue Wednesday afternoon.