A Montreal woman who admitted to killing her newborn baby almost two years ago will find out this morning if she will have to take pregnancy tests twice a year, a condition that, if imposed, would be a Canadian first.
That was one of two joint recommendations presented earlier this week at the Montreal courthouse by lawyers working on the case.
The mother, 43, whose name is being withheld to protect the identities of her three living children, pleaded guilty to one count of infanticide last November.
The lawyers are asking Quebec court Judge Linda Despots for a 20-month suspended sentence, putting the woman under house arrest.
They are also asking that the woman take a pregnancy test every six months to ensure she isn't surprised by an unwanted pregnancy again.
She would have to submit the results of the tests to her supervising officer during her house arrest, and then to her probation officer for three years.
Surprise birth
The court heard that almost two years ago, the woman gave birth to her fourth child, a girl, alone in her bathroom, not knowing she was pregnant.
Her partner found the woman bloodied in their bathtub. The baby was found in a plastic bag, still alive and with head wounds, which appeared to have been inflicted with scissors.
The infant died a few days later in hospital.
The woman's lawyer said she would honour the conditions in order to avoid another surprise pregnancy. About three years before the infant died, she got pregnant without realizing it but did not harm that baby.
"If she wants to have her baby, she will have it. But there will be no more denial of pregnancy as there was the last time," said Joseph La Leggia.
The mother's lawyer, Joseph La Leggia, is confident she will honour the proposed conditions. (Radio-Canada)
Quebec's youth protection service, known by its French acronym DPJ, described the woman as an excellent mother and said she doesn't represent a risk to her three children, according to a report read out in court by the prosecutor.
"She is a woman who has a lot of remorse. She suffered depression after the death of her child," said France Duhamel.
The DPJ dropped the woman's file last December.
Duhamel said she wants to avoid depriving the children of their mother by sending her to prison.
Her risk of reoffending is low, according to experts, but she would have to continue to receive psychiatric help.
Infanticide laws
The Criminal Code makes an important distinction between infanticide and murder or manslaughter.
An infanticide charge takes into account the potentially imbalanced mental state of a woman who just gave birth, and carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
That is much less severe than the penalties for first and second-degree murder, which carry automatic sentences of life in prison, and manslaughter, which carries no minimum or maximum.
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