*WARNING: This story contains some disturbing details.
Over seven years after a two-month-old baby arrived at the Ste-Justine Hospital with a broken leg, her father and mother are facing justice.
The broken femur was one of around 50 fractures discovered in the young girl’s body over the span of her short life.
Crown prosecutor Bruno Des Lauriers explained that the father (named M.B. in the court’s statement of facts document) of the baby pleaded guilty to assault, and the mother (S.R.-P. in the document) pleaded guilty to negligence of the baby.
The father, who is now 36 years old, was sentenced to 18 months of house arrest.
The mother pleaded guilty last year and is awaiting sentencing.
“It’s a two-month-old baby that arrives at Ste-Justine, and the medical team over there diagnoses 50 fractures on different bones of her tiny body. There has been a thorough investigation,” Des Lauriers told CTV News.
History of abuse and neglect
In the statement of facts obtained by CTV News, M.B. admits to breaking his baby girl’s leg on Nov. 20, 2018.
“While changing the diaper, the defendant makes an impatient gesture toward [the infant]; he makes a sudden movement near the child’s leg as he puts on the diaper,” the document reads. “Afterward, the child cries even more. The Defendant feels bad, realizes he may have hurt her, tries to comfort her, and brings her back to S.R.-P.”
The document then details how the father went to school after injuring the girl, leaving her in her mother’s care.
The mother, however, did not take the child to the hospital for three days, despite the fact that the child’s leg was “floppy” and swollen.
The mother only took the child to the hospital when the child’s grandmother urged the mother to do so, the Crown prosecutor said.
The broken femur was not her only injury.
“During her hospitalization, medical examinations revealed approximately 50 fractures of varying ages,” the document reads. “The medical team concludes that these fractures, which vary in age and location, could be consistent with three or four non-accidental traumatic events.”
After the doctors’ thorough examinations, the baby was removed from her parents.
M.B. eventually admitted that he broke his daughter’s leg while impatiently changing her diaper, the document reads, but that he wasn’t acting violently towards her.
He later pleaded guilty.
“Which means two things,” said Des Laurier. “It means that we are saving precious resources with the courts, and it also means that the accused acknowledges, recognizes that what he did was wrong, which is a first good step in the right direction.”
Des Lauriers added that a report was filed saying M.B. is at very low risk of reoffending.
“There were several mitigating factors that were pretty positive in this case,” he said.
Unwanted pregnancy, constant conflicts
The court document says the couple did not expect the pregnancy and had only known each other for a few months.
“During the pregnancy, conflicts quickly arose between the couple,” the document reads.
Regardless, the couple moved in together in 2018 and “their relationship deteriorated, and conflicts were frequent.”
The birth of their daughter did not change things.
The father became depressed and had suicidal thoughts, and the mother did not receive support from him, according to the guilty plea.
He often neglected his parental duties and had no experience with children in the past.
The baby’s mother also “lacks confidence in herself and her parenting skills” and is “exhausted by the daily responsibilities of caring for her newborn.”
“S.R.-P. has come to believe that her daughter does not love her or even hates her,” the document reads. “When the child sleeps or cries, S.R.-P. panics and interprets the situation as rejection on her daughter’s part. For this reason, she often wakes her up.”
S.R.-P. often complains to her mother and at one time, texts her saying: “I’m sick of everything, I want to get the hell out of here.”
“When her mother asked if she wanted to leave with the child, she replied, ‘I don’t know,’” the document reads. “S.R.-P. wrote to her mother: ‘I think I don’t love my daughter.’”
Living happily with no effects
Despite her traumatic first months of life, the child is now a healthy seven-year-old and living with foster parents.
“She is not suffering any long-term effects of what happened to her as a baby, which is great news, and she is now entrusted to the care of a foster family until she is 18 years old,” said Des Lauriers.
The biological parents are permitted to visit the child under supervision for six hours.
