Woman pleads guilty after child left in freezing vehicle

One of two women accused of leaving their young children locked inside a freezing car while they drank in a nearby bar has pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to provide the necessaries of life.

The 25-year-old woman, who can’t be named under a court-ordered publication ban, pleaded to the charge Friday in Lethbridge provincial court where she appeared in person with her lawyer and admitted she left her threeyear-old daughter in the vehicle last December in -18 degree weather.

When police found her and the other 31-year-old woman drinking in a bar, she said she had forgotten the child was in the vehicle.

Reading from an agreed statement of facts, Crown Prosecutor Erin Olsen told court a civilian phoned police about 11:25 p.m. Dec. 15 after he heard a baby crying in a locked SUV that was parked in the 200 block of 5 Street South and not running.

Police smashed a window and rescued the little girl who, Olsen said, was cold to the touch, but ultimately determined to be OK.

During a search of the vehicle shortly afterward, police found a second child, a quiet four-year-old boy who was curled up in a ball and shivering under a pile of jackets. Although both children were wearing winter jackets, themselves, “it was bitterly cold outside,” Olsen said. It was also snowing and there was frost on the vehicle’s windows.

Police determined the mothers of the children had been in the bar for about an hour, which, according to a report by a pediatric specialist, was long enough that both children were sufferering from mild hypothermia. Neither of them suffered any long-term ill-effects, but the pediatrician stated in her report that it’s unclear how long they could have survived in the freezing vehicle and they were “clearly at risk” for severe hypothermia and frostbite, and even death.

Olsen said when police found the women there was no indication they were planning to leave the bar “anytime soon.”

The younger woman, who court was told has one previous conviction for failing to comply with a breathalyzer demand, is scheduled back in court Jan.. 26, 2018 for a sentencing hearing. The case was adjourned to allow time for the preparation of a pre-sentence report with a Gladue component, which will take into consideration the woman’s personal circumstances and aboriginal heritage.

Meanwhile, the other accused, who previously pleaded not guilty to her charge, is scheduled for a one-day trial in March.