Judge denies bail for foster mother accused in severe beating of six-year-old

A 25-year-old Winnipeg woman arrested after her six-year-old foster daughter was assaulted and left with life-altering injuries has been denied bail.

Provincial court Judge Kusham Sharma rejected the woman’s bid for release late Tuesday afternoon.

Details of the bail hearing and reasons for Sharma’s decision cannot be disclosed under terms of a blanket publication ban.

The woman — who has been charged with aggravated assault, assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life — sat next to a Sheriff’s officer and appeared to stare into the distance as lawyers for the Crown and defence made their submissions.

The woman’s next court date is Jan. 16.

The woman’s husband, who is charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life, was released on bail following the couple’s arrest in September but is back in custody after allegedly breaching conditions of his release.

The little girl from a northern First Nation was one of four children living at a home in a north Winnipeg neighbourhood, in the care of two foster parents, when she was rushed to hospital in critical condition on Sept. 19.

The Winnipeg Police Service said at the time investigators believed the girl was injured a day or two earlier — but did not receive the medical care she needed.

The other three children were removed from the home; police said one of them had also been assaulted.

Search warrant documents recently reviewed by the Free Press indicate police are probing whether other children in the couple’s care had been abused.

A Sept. 20 document, filed in support of a warrant application that sought to search and seize evidence from the foster home, says the girl was found to have a broken sternum and broken vertebrae, along with severe bruising, burns from tape on her mouth and apparent small stab wounds on the bottom of her feet.

Other warrant documents, filed later in September, say the girl’s injuries are “life-altering” and, in addition to the previously noted injuries, included bruised lungs and bruises covering “the entirety of her body.”

A respite worker had last seen the girl on Sept. 17, but when she arrived to help the foster parents with child care on Sept. 18, she didn’t go in the girl’s bedroom, because the parents said she was ill.

On Sept. 19, the parents emailed the worker and said she didn’t need to come because the girl was sick. Later that day, the foster parents called for paramedics.

Blood was found smeared throughout the girl’s bedroom. She was unable to move in her bed before emergency responders arrived, due to the severity of her injuries, police believe. Her bed sheets were soaked in urine.

The foster parents could not explain the extent of the girl’s injuries that day. The foster mother said the girl had fallen from her bed.

In the documents filed later in September, which sought access to the foster parents’ cellphones, police said the foster mother admitted to slamming the girl on the ground several times on Sept. 18, then calling 911 the next day after finding she wasn’t moving.

Police believe the adults used their cellphones to search for advice on how to treat the girl’s injuries.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca