Woman accused in drowning of girl at Alberta lake was under house arrest

STONY PLAIN, Alta. — A bail hearing has heard that a woman accused in the drowning death of a five-year-old girl in an Alberta lake didn’t know the child and was supposed to be under house arrest.

Mary Quinn, 35, is charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life after the girl was found dead last month at Wabamun Lake, west of Edmonton.

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Justice Rosanna Saccomani called the circumstances of the case “absolutely shocking.” She said she would deliver a decision on bail next week.

There is a court-ordered publication ban on identifying the child but not on details from Wednesday’s hearing in provincial court in Stony Plain, Alta.

Prosecutor John Schmidt told the hearing that Quinn was under house arrest as part of a conditional sentencing order for pushing her way into a stranger’s home, armed with a gardening tool, while intoxicated.

He said Quinn didn’t get permission from her bail supervisor to go to the lake on Oct. 13.

Schmidt said Quinn and the child didn’t know each other, and the accused didn’t get permission from the child’s family to take her out on the lake in a canoe.

Neither wore a life-jacket, said Schmidt.

He said the girl’s father began searching the lake when he realized she was missing, as did three fishermen in a motorboat.

When the fishermen found the canoe at the far end of Moonlight Bay, they saw a woman inside with one of her arms in the water and she appeared to be holding something, said Schmidt.

He said someone on the shore flew a drone over the canoe.

“He also saw, with the video feed of the drone, the accused holding what he believed was the young girl under the water,” said Schmidt.

The prosecutor said the girl’s father, in another boat, then approached Quinn and asked where his daughter was. The woman said she didn’t know.

The father saw a small foot poking out from under the canoe, Schmidt said.

He said the father jumped into the water, causing Quinn to fall in. The father pulled the child’s body into the boat and performed CPR.

The fishermen took the father and girl back to shore, where paramedics took over, said Schmidt. The girl was later declared dead.

Quinn told different stories to bystanders about what happened, said Schmidt.

The woman said the girl had leaned over the side of the canoe and fell in the water, and she said the girl went to chase a duck and the boat flipped, the prosecutor said.

At the time, RCMP said they were called to the lake for a capsized canoe. They said a child and a woman were pulled from the water.

Shortly after, Mounties said the canoe didn’t capsize and the drowning was being investigated as a criminal matter. Quinn was later arrested.

Defence lawyer Jason Leung told court the circumstances of the drowning are unknown and there are reasons why the child could have gone overboard.

“The child goes after a duck, the canoe rocks, the child falls into the water (and) finds herself caught on something,” Leung said.

He said his client doesn’t know how to swim and could have been in shock.

The Crown argued Quinn should not be released.

Schmidt said it’s not believed that Quinn deliberately planned the child’s death, but her actions afterward show she was trying to hide her involvement.

He said the girl would still be alive if the accused had obeyed her house arrest or if she had called for help when the child fell into the water.

The judge said if the girl had fallen into the water, it’s bizarre the accused didn’t seek help from the fishermen who approached her.

“It would be expected, if the child is in the water and you can’t see the child … you wouldn’t have your hands in the water,” Saccomani said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2024.

Aaron Sousa, The Canadian Press