Child abduction case delayed to give new lawyer chance to review matter
The criminal matter against a woman accused of taking her child and fleeing to Central America five years ago has been put off for another month so her new lawyer can get up to speed on the case.
Lawyer number three has only recently taken the file, and needs time to review disclosure before determining how to best proceed, a judge was told Friday during a brief hearing in Lethbridge provincial court.
The woman, who can’t be named under a publication ban to protect the identity of her young son, was forced to find another lawyer after her second lawyer withdrew from the case Jan. 25. She has since hired Andre Ouellette of Calgary, and the matter is scheduled to return to court March 14.
The woman’s first lawyer, who withdrew in December to take a Crown prosecutor position in Red Deer, was trying to prove his client’s rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms had been breached when Canadian officials helped to remove her from Belize in 2017 and return her to Lethbridge, where she resided before fleeing the country with her young son. The lawyer fought for months to obtain disclosure from Canadian authorities and to question authorities from Belize, and last November a hearing by closed-circuit TV with three Belizean officials was finally held to determine whether the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies in this case.
Defence maintained Canadian officials denied the woman fundamental justice under Article 9 of the Declaration of Human Rights, which states “no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.”
Several officers from the Belize Police Department found the accused in a small home and she was arrested after she was unable to produce her passport.
One of the officers testified during the November hearing that even though he had a Canadian arrest warrant, he knew it was not valid in Belize and could not be used to arrest the woman unless she was found in Canada. Her lawyer suggested the officer didn’t even show the accused the arrest warrant and didn’t have the authority to arrest her.
The Belizean departments of human services and immigration, as well as the Canadian Consulate in Belize, were contacted and the accused was convicted July 20, 2017 of failing to produce the proper documents. She was fined $1,000 and her removal from Belize was ordered four days later, after she paid the fine. She was finally removed Aug. 9 and flown to Calgary, via Houston, Texas.
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