Search conducted
Police, ambulance respond to home of woman connected to infanticide case
Charlottetown police conducted a search of a home in Sherwood on Thursday that is connected to an infanticide case before the courts.
A number of police cars and an ambulance rushed to the home late Thursday afternoon.
It’s the residence of Shannon Dawn Rayner, 39, who has been charged with two counts of infanticide. The case was adjourned earlier this month with the next court date set for Oct. 4.
“We had gotten a call again to that residence that’s associated to her and a call for service resulted in a search warrant,’’ Charlottetown Deputy Police Chief Brad MacConnell said on Friday. “The search warrant resulted in the seizure of items related to the case, which is still before the courts.’’
Court documents state Rayner willfully failed to obtain medical assistance for a child in 2014 between Feb. 1 and Feb. 28 and again for a second child in 2016 between Nov. 16 and 18.
In both cases, Rayner is accused of disposing of the dead body of a child with intent to conceal the fact the baby was born by concealing it in a bag and placing it in a waste bin.
Rayner has been charged with two counts of infanticide and two counts of disposing of the dead body of a child with intent to conceal the fact it had been delivered.
Rayner has been on conditional release with strict orders to be of good behaviour, notify Charlottetown police of any change of address and/or occupation, refrain from having unsupervised care of any children under the age of five and to surrender her passport to Charlottetown Police Services.
Earlier this month, The Guardian confirmed Rayner worked at CHANCES, including during the time of her 2016 pregnancy, but was not working there at the time of her arrest.
CHANCES (Caring, Helping and Nurturing, Children Every Step) is a non-profit, charitable organization, that exists to provide a range of child development and parent support services to children 11 years old and younger and to their families, particularly those experiencing additional life challenges.
Every female person who commits infanticide is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
Police reported in July charges relating to the deaths of two babies resulted from an investigation spanning more than one year.
MacConnell said the investigation was sparked by a person in the medical community coming forward last year noting Rayner had been pregnant twice but did not have any children delivered in hospital.