A judge is expected to rule next week on whether a Montreal mother accused of abandoning her three-year-old daughter on the side of an Ontario highway last month will be released on bail.
The 34-year-old woman, whose name is under a publication ban to protect her daughter’s identity, appeared in court Friday for the second consecutive day as she awaits the decision.
Crown prosecutor Lili Prévost-Gravel is urging the court to keep her in custody.
On Thursday, the accused appeared to be listening attentively to police testimony during the bail hearing. On several occasions she burst into tears, and at other times she seemed surprised by the testimony.
A publication ban was issued for any evidence heard during the hearing, meaning the content of the testimony can’t be reported on.
Section 517 of the Criminal Code is used “when a person is criminally charged and there is a possibility that the case will go before a jury. This is to preserve the evidence and ensure a fair trial,” Prévost-Gravel said.
The prosecution wants the mother to remain in custody, Prévost-Gravel said.
The accused has already been charged with unlawful abandonment of a child after allegedly leaving her three-year-old daughter in the rural area of Casselman and St. Albert in eastern Ontario on June 15. She reported her daughter missing at a business in Coteau-du-Lac, west of Montreal, and told police she had no memory of the previous six hours or the girl’s whereabouts.
Quebec provincial police (SQ) and volunteer search teams spent days combing roadsides and forests in southwestern Quebec before discovering the accused had travelled to Ontario.
The three-year-old girl was found alive and conscious on June 18 by Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers.
More to come…
–with files from The Canadian Press