Guilty of infanticide, she may need to undergo pregnancy tests

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Claudia Berthiaume

Tuesday, 27-feb-2018 17:20

UPDATE
Tuesday, 27-feb-2018 17:20

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A Montreal who had killed her new-born will likely be with a prison sentence at home, but she may need to submit to pregnancy tests every six months for the next five years.

It is a condition very special, applied to a charge rarity of infanticide, with the aim of avoiding that the accused be pregnant again without knowing it.

This would be the first time in Canada that a woman should take a pregnancy test every six months, on the order of a court, after the defence lawyer, Joseph La Leggia.

“My client is already doing voluntarily,” said criminal defence lawyer yesterday, the palais de justice of Montreal.

On July 12, 2016, the husband of the accused 43-year-old was found bleeding in his bath. It seems that the lady, who was pregnant at 34 weeks without knowing it, had just given birth to a rather abrupt.

Disturbing discovery

Arriving at the residence of the couple, located in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grace, Montreal, paramedics discovered a new-born in a sealed plastic bag for two nodes.

The baby, who was still alive, was an apparent injury to the head.

His umbilical cord was cut to “non-surgically”, noted Me France Duhamel, of the Crown, where the accused pleaded guilty to the charge last November.

Long scissors were found nearby. The small died two days later at the hospital.

This is not until January 2017, the forty-something woman has been formally charged with the murder not premeditated of her baby.

The charge was later changed to infanticide, which is reflected as follows in the criminal Code: “A female person commits infanticide when by an act or a voluntary omission, she causes the death of her new-born child, if […] it is not fully recovered from having given birth to the child, and if […] her mind is disturbed”.

Denial of pregnancy

The mother would not be infringement of any psychiatric disorder, but she could have lived a “denial of pregnancy” and a “dissociative disorder,” during the crime. It was the second time that the lady achieve appropriate levels without knowing she was pregnant, but the other baby had survived.

Yesterday, lawyers for the Crown and defence have suggested in conjunction with the judge Linda Despots of condemning the accused, who is also the mother of three other children, a prison sentence at home for a period of 20 months.

The award would also include a three-year probation with monitoring.

“Send them to prison would deprive young children of his mother”, emphasized the Crown prosecutor, to the effect that the accused has been called a “great mother” by stakeholders.

During the first 10 months, the woman, who is an accountant by training, should remain at home 24 hours on 24, except to go to work or school.

For 10 months, she should abide by a curfew.

The mother of a family will also need to continue to see his psychiatrist regularly.

The judge Despots will make its decision Thursday.