[Note: This blog piece originally stated that the mother was just 14 when she had the baby, because of a paragraph in the newspaper report of 2.12.16 which read:
Courtney Saul, 19, was sentenced to two years’ probation in provincial court in Kamloops.
Saul was a student at Thompson Rivers University when her baby, George Carlos, was born on Dec. 15, 2011.
We now believe the paragraph should have started, ‘Courtney Saul, 24, …’ and will seek clarification from the journalist who wrote the piece.
We mention this because of some comments which reflected our earlier belief that the mother had been just 14 when she gave birth. We apologise for any misunderstanding.]
Our thanks to Norm for this. Excerpts below, my commentary in square brackets:
A mother who drowned her newborn son in a sink before leaving her home to write a university exam has avoided time behind bars, though a judge described her actions as “abhorrent.”
Courtney Saul, 19, was sentenced to two years’ probation in provincial court in Kamloops.
Saul was a student at Thompson Rivers University when her baby, George Carlos, was born on Dec. 15, 2011.
Court heard Saul gave birth alone in the bathroom of a basement suite where she was living.
She held the baby for some time, but she had an exam that day, Crown lawyer Will Burrows said. Because she had the exam, she didn’t know what to do. She finally decided she should drown the baby. She did that in the sink and then she went to her exam….
Saul confessed to police [the baby’s corpse was found in the boot of her car three weeks later, by firefighters, following an accident] and was charged with infanticide. Court heard the charge was stayed a short time later and, in 2015, Saul was charged with second-degree murder.
In August, following a decision from the Supreme Court of Canada earlier this year, Saul’s charges were downgraded back to infanticide.
She told police the pregnancy was the result of a sexual assault. She said she’d passed out at a party and woke up without her clothes on.
She believed someone had sexual intercourse with her while she was unconscious, Burrows said…
[There is no account in the article of any corroboration for her allegation. It could be a pure invention, possibly an invention of her lawyer. How often do we read in cases of women who’ve committed vile crimes, that they’d been abused by men – no evidence being presented for the allegation – thereby receiving leniency? Often, and the alleged abuse – unlike in this case – need not even relate directly to the case in question. How often do we find males receiving leniency for similar reasons? Very rarely.]
Defence lawyer Murray Armstrong noted the circumstances. [Alleged circumstances.]
This is certainly a tragedy in all senses of the word, he said, adding Saul remains troubled by the events but is moving forward.
Nothing is going to change what happened, but certainly now Ms. Saul is not a risk to anybody, he said. [‘certainly’? Five years after the event?] In terms of punishment, there’s no punishment greater than the guilt and remorse she feels. [Would the same extraordinary claim be made for a 19-year-old man who’d killed a newborn baby in cold blood? Certainly not.]
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