A 32-year-old woman, one of two mothers accused of leaving their preschool-aged children in a vehicle outside a bar has been sentenced to a conditional discharge on Thursday for her role in the incident.
On the night of December 15, 2016, officers responded to the 200 block of 5 Street South following reports of a child in distress. Police smashed the window of a locked vehicle and rescued a three-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy. The children were shivering as the temperature at the time was approximately -18C.
Each of the children’s mothers, who were 31 and 24 at the time, were located inside a nearby bar. Surveillance camera footage indicated the women had been in the bar for nearly an hour and both were charged with one count of failing to provide the necessaries of life.
The court granted the conditional discharge as the woman was found to have taken steps to deal with her issues.
“Largely, it involves cooperation, collaborating, continuing to be in conversation with the child welfare authorities, the people she's been working with, especially over the course of the last year since she's had the child returned to her,” said David Cavilla, the woman’s legal representative.
The identity of the woman cannot be released in order to protect the identity of her child.
