Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Mother who killed toddler sent to jail

A northern Manitoba woman who killed her 23-month-old daughter while the family was under the watch of Child and Family Services has received a three-year prison term.

The mother had been seeking a conditional sentence that would allow her to remain free in the community. But Queen's Bench Justice Perry Schulman ruled this week in Thompson that she must be imprisoned.

The toddler died of blunt-force trauma to the chest in Cross Lake in November 2003. The mother was charged with manslaughter following an RCMP investigation and the case has dragged through the legal system ever since.

The 29-year-old mother was found guilty following a trial in Thompson, but her sentencing was delayed until last week while a pre-sentence report was completed.

Prosecutor Brian Bell told court the mother committed the ultimate breach of trust when she physically abused her child, striking such a forceful blow that it stopped the little girl's heart. There was also evidence of bruising and trauma to her head, he said.

The toddler who died was the second-youngest of five children of the mother and her spouse, according to family members. CFS had an open file on the family and had returned the children to their parents from foster care in September 2003. They moved into a new home weeks later.

Defence lawyer Gregory Bauman said CFS was supposed to have provided some home-based assistance to his client but never followed through. He said the mother had grown up in an "extremely dysfunctional" environment that included witnessing alcohol and physical abuse.

www.mikeoncrime.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 26, 2009 A9

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