Mom appears in court on abandonment charge after son, 4, found naked outside

The accused in a child abandonment case leaves Old City Hall in Toronto after being released on $2000 bail on Feb. 21, 2015. (Natalie Johnson / CTV)

A 23-year-old woman appeared in court at Old City Hall Saturday morning on a charge of abandoning a child under 10, after police alleged her four-year-old son was found naked on an Etobicoke street.

She was released on a $2,000 bond.

The woman’s name cannot be published in order to protect the child. Children’s Aid Society of Toronto is involved.

Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu said Toronto Police received a call on Friday at approximately 1:30 pm., from a neighbour who had found a child wandering without any clothes in the Lake Shore Boulevard and Twelfth Street area.

“I just happened to look out the window, and I looked across the street and saw a little boy,” she said. “He was naked.”

She wrapped him in a blanket and called police.

It was approximately -14 C and felt like -23 with the wind chill on Friday afternoon, according to Environment Canada.

The boy was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital by police to be checked out, but an ambulance was not required, according to Sidhu.

No one answered the door at the child’s house, but his mother eventually returned to the residence, where she was questioned and arrested.

The news of a naked boy found on the streets came just one day another under-dressed child died after wandering into the cold streets of North York.

Elijah Marsh, 3, was found curled up behind an air-conditioner unit without vital signs on Thursday at approximately 10:15 a.m., only 300 metres from a family member’s apartment.

Marsh was seen on an apartment security camera around 4 a.m. leaving the building in nothing but a diaper, boots and a T-shirt. It was -17 C that night that felt like -28 with the wind chill.

More than $150,000 has since been raised for Marsh’s family through an online fundraiser.

A candlelight vigil and prayer session was held Saturday morning in front of the apartment building where he was last seen. Mourners left flowers, cards and stuffed animals to show their grief.

With a report from CTV Toronto’s Janice Golding