Montreal mom accused of child abandonment to remain behind bars, undergo psychiatric assessment
A judge has ordered a Montreal mother charged with abandoning her three-year-old daughter on the side of a highway last month to remain in custody.
The judge rendered the decision Friday morning at the Valleyfield courthouse and ordered the 34-year-old woman to undergo a psychiatric assessment within 30 days at the Philippe-Pinel Institute in Montreal.
Wearing her hair down and a grey crewneck, she broke down in tears during the bail hearing after the judge issued the ruling. She had two guards with her.
She will remain in custody pending her next court appearance on Aug. 8.
The Crown prosecutor had requested that she not be released from jail.
The mother was arrested June 16, one day after she walked into a store in Coteau-du-Lac, Que. telling workers that she had no memory of the whereabouts of her daughter for the past several hours.
The toddler was missing for more than three days before being found alive — and alone — on the side of Highway 417 near St. Albert, Ont., by a police drone on June 18, following a massive search by more than 150 police officers in Quebec and Ontario.
Following her arrest, the mother was charged with unlawful abandonment of a child.
After appearing in court on July 3, she was charged with a second offence: criminal negligence causing bodily harm, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The name of the woman cannot be published in order to respect the privacy of the child, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
There is also a routine publication ban prohibiting any information relating to evidence presented at the bail hearing from being released.
With files from CTV News' Olivia O'Malley.
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