SALABERRY-DE-VALLEYFIELD - The mother of a three-year-old Montreal girl who was found alive after being abandoned in a rural Ontario field has been declared not criminally responsible of the crime.
Quebec court Judge Bertrand St-Arnaud has ruled that the 34-year-old woman cannot be held criminally responsible by way of mental disorder.
The woman faced charges of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and unlawful abandonment of a child.
Both the Crown and the defence agreed on the facts of the case, including that the woman's mental state should prevent her from being convicted.
St-Arnaud said he has read a lengthy psychiatric report on the accused that concluded she should be found not criminally responsible.
After three days of intensive searches, the girl was found alive and consc