The defendant was charged under the Child and Family Services Act with leaving her five-year-old child unattended.
The child ran into traffic on St. Clair Avenue West in Toronto and was struck by a vehicle.
The Crown relied on circumstantial evidence to prove the defendant had charge of the child and left her unattended.
The court excluded the defendant's statement to police as involuntary due to lack of proper caution and misleading circumstances.
Although the court found sufficient circumstantial evidence to deny a directed verdict motion, it ultimately acquitted the defendant, finding the Crown failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt due to unexplained gaps in the evidence, including the presence of an unidentified third party at the scene and an untraced vehicle from which the child may have emerged.
