A mother and her ex-boyfriend have been sentenced to nine years in the death of her toddler, who died after being scalded by hot coffee in Strathroy, Ont.

Amanda Dumont, 33, and Scott Bakker, 27, were sentenced in a London, Ont. courtroom on Thursday, three years after the death of 20-month-old Ryker Daponte-Michaud.

The child died of his injuries three days after the initial scalding, which the court accepted as accidental.

In a stern address to the court, Justice Renee Pomerance said the couple’s response to the boy’s injuries was not “a momentary lapse” in judgement, and that they showed “callous neglect” as Ryker suffered for three days.

“It did not require advanced medical knowledge,” Pomerance said. “But it called for the exercise of basic humanity.”

The judge went on to say that the strongest human bond is between a mother and her child, and that Dumont and Bakker “did little to ease the child’s suffering.”

“The death of a child is a tragic event, but that tragedy is compounded when something could have been done to prevent it,” Pomerance said.

The two were previously found guilty of criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life, after Ryker died from injuries sustained by the scalding coffee in 2014.

The judge said both will receive credit for time served prior to sentencing.

Speaking outside the courthouse, Dumont’s lawyer, Ken Marley, was critical of the judge’s decision.

“If one of her honour’s purposes was imposing a sentence that would not be crushing on the offenders, I think she failed,” Marley told CTV London.

Bakker’s lawyer, Gord Cudmore, said his client regrets what happened.

“He realizes that he didn’t do the right thing,” Cudmore said.

Crown Attorney Elizabeth McGuire called the judge’s decision “just” and said the process has been long and “very difficult.” The case was previously stalled by a mistrial.

“Now we can all, everybody involved, just get on with their lives,” she said.

With files from CTV London