Mom pleads guilty in hurt baby case
By Lethbridge Herald on June 16, 2023.
Herald file photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Linda Wingfield and Angela Piche set up a stuffed animal display in support of the baby girl whose mother pleaded guilty in court Friday to charges.Delon Shurtz
Lethbridge Herald
A woman who feared authorities would take her baby if she told them her husband was assaulting the child, could be sentenced when she returns to court in a couple of months.
The mother, who can’t be named to protect the identity of the baby girl, pleaded guilty Friday in Lethbridge court of justice to one count of failure to provide the necessaries of life. Sentencing was adjourned, however, to allow time for the preparation of a pre-sentence report, which will provide the court with the woman’s personal circumstances to help determine a fit sentence.
The Crown and defence are also expected to jointly recommend a sentence when the matter returns on Aug. 18.
Reading from an agreed statement of facts, Crown Prosecutor Drew Gillespie said the baby, who was only about six weeks old, had sustained at the hands of her father significant injuries, including bleeding on the brain, brain injury, and abusive head trauma, the latter likely caused by blunt force injury or shaking.
Police discovered the injured baby on Jan. 18 after they were asked to go to the couples’ home for a welfare check on a child who was being abused and assaulted allegedly by her father. The mother and child were sleeping, but police could tell the child was having trouble breathing and was in medical distress.
The baby was taken to the hospital, but enroute her condition deteriorated and she suffered a seizure.
“Upon her arrival at the Chinook Regional Hospital, the child’s oxygen levels dropped and she had to be intubated,” Gillespie explained.
After doctors realized she had a brain bleed, the baby was transported by air ambulance to Alberta Childrens’ Hospital in Calgary, where an examination revealed the head trauma and other injuries, including severely injured spinal ligaments, bleeding around the spinal cord, bleeding from both eyes, and a detached retina in the left eye.
“Doctors were not certain that the child would survive her injuries when she had first arrived at the hospital,” Gillespie said. He noted the “mechanism” of the injuries would have required more force than that of an automobile accident.
During their investigation, police questioned a man who lived with the family and who said he saw the father repeatedly assault his daughter by slapping her in the head and face, bouncing her on the bed and couch, and pushing her head and chest into the couch and bed. The roommate said he also saw the father try to force a bottle down the child’s mouth several times.
The man told the mother she needed to intervene and stop the abuse, or he would call the police.
“At no time did (she) alert the police or anyone else about the possible abuse to the child,” Gillespie said.
The roommate reported the abuse to his case worker, who reported it to the police, and the mother was arrested after the child was airlifted to the Calgary hospital.
On Jan. 19 the mother told police the roommate treated the child well and would take her from the father when he was frustrated with her. She admitted she had previously heard the child’s voice being muffled in another room and told her husband not to cover her mouth because it was scaring the child.
“She observed (her husband) being frustrated with the child. When the child was crying (the father) would try and shake her out of the crying state, and it made her more upset.”
Throughout the day of Jan. 18 the mother noticed there was something wrong with the baby and her breathing was laboured. She told police she tried to convince her husband to take the child to the hospital, but he wanted to wait to see if she got better on her own. The mother said she was going to take the child that night if her husband didn’t, but police were notified first.
“(The mother) said she became aware of (her husband’s) actions a couple of weeks earlier, and she would stop him, but she did not know about the health concerns until Jan. 18…when she saw the child’s arm twitch.”
She said she wished she had taken the baby to the hospital sooner, and she didn’t call the police because she feared Child and Family Services would take the baby away from her.
“The child was discharged from hospital on April 20/23, but remains under continued medical care,” Gillespie said. “Her prognosis at this time is uncertain, and will only be known as she grows. Doctors do not know if she’ll be able to see out of her left eye. It is possible that the child will live with cerebral palsy as a result of her brain injuries.”
The 52-year-old father, who also can’t be identified, is charged with aggravated assault, sexual assault, sexual contact with a child, and failure to provide the necessaries of life.
His matter was also in court Friday, but his lawyer requested an adjournment to June 23, ostensibly to resolve the charges. Meanwhile, the accused remains in custody at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre.
Court was told an agreed statement of facts is being prepared, and there will be a joint submission on sentencing.
24-23
hard to figure. at what mental/emotional level is the mother whereby she fears more the rescue of her child than the ongoing wicked abuse by an in-house monster.