Mother of three-year-old Montreal girl denied bail in abandonment case

SALABERRY-DE-VALLEYFIELD — The mother accused of abandoning her three-year-old daughter in a field near a highway in Ontario burst into tears on Friday as a judge told her she was being denied bail.

The 34-year-old woman, whose name is under a publication ban to protect the girl’s identity, was ordered to undergo a 30-day psychiatric evaluation at a hospital in the Montreal region.

She will return to court in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Que., west of Montreal, on Aug. 8.

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The mother has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm and unlawful abandonment of a child.

She reported her daughter missing on June 15 at a store in Coteau-du-Lac, Que., west of Montreal, and told police she had no memory of the previous six hours or of the girl’s whereabouts.

After days of intensive searches, the girl was found alive and conscious on June 18 by Ontario Provincial Police officers who were using a drone when they spotted her near a road, 50 kilometres west of the Quebec boundary.

On Friday, the accused nodded her head as Quebec Court Judge Bertrand St-Arnaud explained to her that she was being sent to be evaluated.

Crown prosecutor Lili Prévost-Gravel said she was satisfied with the outcome.

“The job of the crown is to make sure that the public is safe, so I’m proud that the judge looked at the (evidence)… and decided to keep her detained,” she told reporters outside the courtroom.

Prévost-Gravel said the woman has the option to appeal the judge’s decision.

The woman’s lawyer said he would evaluate his client’s options.

A publication ban was issued for any evidence heard during last week’s bail hearings, meaning neither the testimony heard in court nor the reasons for the judge’s decision can be reported.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2025.

Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press