Judge rules Montreal mother who abandoned daughter must stay in psychiatric care

A Montreal mother charged with child abandonment after leaving her daughter near a major Ontario highway will remain in hospital custody but could eventually be granted gradual outings.

Quebec Court Judge Bertrand St-Arnaud made the ruling Tuesday at the Valleyfield courthouse, after declaring the 34-year-old not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder on Monday.

St-Arnaud noted that despite improvements in the woman’s mental health, she still poses a risk to herself and to the public.

She had been required to undergo a psychiatric assessment and was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, characterized by symptoms of schizophrenia and a mood disorder, such as bipolar disorder or depression.

She is expected to require lifelong treatment.

• READ MORE: Montreal mother charged in child abandonment case found not criminally responsible

Her name is subject to a publication ban to protect the toddler’s identity.

The judge followed the recommendations of psychiatrist Marie-Michèle Boulanger, Crown prosecutor Lili Prévost-Gravel said after the decision.

The Crown had sought continued hospitalization, with the possibility of accompanied or unaccompanied outings.

The defence had argued for conditional release.

The woman is also banned from contacting her daughter or the girl’s father and is prohibited from using the internet.

On June 18, police found the woman’s three-year-old daughter alive and conscious in a field near a highway in Ontario, four days after she was reported missing by her mother in Coteau-du-Lac, Que., triggering a massive police search.

The woman was arrested and charged with criminal negligence, causing bodily harm and unlawful abandonment of a child.

According to the police interrogation video submitted on Monday, the woman told authorities that she had an affair with a colleague and was convinced that he had “possessed” or “programmed” her daughter.

“OK, so the first time it happened…I recognized it as something supernatural because the behaviour was off. It was like she…I know this sounds crazy, but it was like she was becoming possessed by a demon,” the woman said.

She told police that she was afraid for her daughter’s life, and that’s why she left home and abandoned her on the side of the road.

“I went back immediately, and she was gone,” she said.

• READ MORE: Montreal mom charged with abandoning daughter ‘in great distress’

The psychiatrist who evaluated the mother concluded she should remain in custody at a Montreal psychiatric institute, but could eventually be permitted some unescorted leaves with conditions.

The Crown and the defence agreed on the facts of the case, as well as on the psychiatrist’s conclusion that the woman’s mental state should prevent her from being convicted.

According to court documents, on the morning of June 15, the woman sent co-workers text messages and emails, which the Crown said exhibited her fragile mental state.

She also posted a troubling video to TikTok, holding the girl and saying, “You try that again, and this is going to get ugly.”

She quickly left her Montreal home without her phone, as she said she did not want to be tracked.

Later that day, the woman entered a store in the Montérégie area to say her daughter had gone missing and she didn’t remember where she was.

“It was a hostile environment for a child,” Crown prosecutor Lili Prévost-Gravel told the judge of the highway, where the girl was left with no food, water or shelter.

• READ MORE: Montreal mother charged in abandonment case to continue psychiatric evaluation

The toddler was hospitalized for four days after being found.

She was severely dehydrated and had multiple insect bites, lesions from poison ivy and was swollen and infected due to her soiled diaper.

The young girl will also require ongoing psychiatric care, Prévost-Gravel added, noting that she suffers from nightmares and a debilitating fear of abandonment.

“Right now, he [her father] can’t leave her alone, so he can’t work,” she said. “He must always be in her presence.”

With files from CTV News’ Marisela Amador and Denise Roberts, and The Canadian Press