Mother, 33, charged with murdering her 3 children
DRUMMONDVILLE, Que . –Awoman stared blankly from the prisoner’s dock as she appeared in court to face charges Wednesday of murdering her three young children.
Sonia Blanchette shuffled gingerly into the courtroom, appeared in a daze, and had to be guided away by a courthouse constable after she was charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
As the 33-year-old woman arrived at the courthouse in the back of an unmarked police cruiser, Blanchette kept her head low with the hood of her pale blue jacket pulled up to hide her face.
Her estranged spouse, the children’s father, watched quietly from the front row of the courtroom.
Surrounded by family, Patrick Desautels did not say a word while entering or leaving.
The hearing lasted just a few minutes. No plea was entered Wednesday.
A court-appointed lawyer has requested that Blanchette be evaluated to determine whether she is mentally fit to respond to the criminal charges.
Quebec court Judge Gilles Lefrancois ordered her to remain in custody and return to court on Dec. 14 after an evaluation by a psychiatrist from the Universite de Sherbrooke.
The Crown did not object to the request for an evaluation.
“The only thing I can say today is that she has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her three young children,” prosecutor Marie-Eve Patry told reporters.
Police have not yet confirmed how the children died.
The bodies of Anais, 2, Loic, 4, and Laurelie, 5, were found at Blanchette’s home Sunday in Drummondville, about an hour from Montreal.
Reports said the victims’ grandmother was the one who made the grisly discovery Sunday.
Media reports said a custody order gave Blanchette access to the children once every two weeks, but only under supervision.
Neither the police nor the Crown would confirm the custody details.
Blanchette had been hospitalized following the deaths.
Police began questioning her Wednesday following her release. A few hours later, she was whisked before a judge.