A small mountain of multi-coloured stuffed animals rose up Thursday in front of the family home where a mother allegedly premeditatedly killed her 5-year-old son in Coteau-du-Lac. “The system completely failed her when she was screaming for help,” laments a friend of the accused.
Several people stopped in front of the memorial to pay tribute to the little victim. Among them, Normand, a colleague and friend of the accused. “No one saw this coming, everyone is shocked,” he said, after placing a flower and a stuffed animal in front of the residence.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Normand, a friend of the accused, says the young woman’s mental health seemed fragile.
The accused, aged 29, had been living with her parents for three years in their house on Chemin du Fleuve, a quiet road lined with single-family homes in Coteau-du-Lac, Montérégie. She shared custody of her five-year-old son with her ex-partner.
On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, emergency services were called to the residence to assist the little boy, who was pronounced dead on the scene.
On Wednesday, the young mother was charged with first-degree murder in the death of her son, whom she allegedly killed in a “intentional and premeditated” manner, according to the prosecutor in charge of the case. The exact cause of the child’s death has not been revealed.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Cindy Tremblay, a friend of the mother, came to leave a stuffed animal at the scene of the tragedy.
The accused allegedly tried to take her own life a week before the tragedy, said her friend, Cindy Tremblay, according to whom social services and the police had been alerted. “I don’t excuse her act, because it’s disgusting,” she said. “But my friend, she was a human being who needed support, and the system completely let her down.”
“A call for help”
In the months leading up to the tragedy, the young woman had isolated herself from her loved ones and her mental health had deteriorated, said Cindy Tremblay. “But deep down, she was a sweet person, really endearing, and without any malice,” said the woman who had come to pay her respects in front of the altar of stuffed animals on Thursday at noon, before bursting into tears.
She was in distress, and she made it, her cry for help, but no one listened to her. It took her going too far and killing her son for them to listen.
Cindy Tremblay, friend of the accused
The accused, a “calm and introverted person,” according to her colleague Normand, allegedly showed signs of psychological distress. “We never talked about it, but I suspected there was something,” he stressed.
But the young mother’s love for her son was unmistakable, according to the 30-year-old. “The last time she spoke to me about him, it was his first day at school. She was going to take pictures of him before he got on the bus. […]. She was happy,” he added.
A shaken neighborhood
The accused appeared for the first time by videoconference at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse on Wednesday. In her hospital bed, the young woman appeared, a blanket over her shoulders, looking calm. She seemed to understand what was happening. She made no comment.
The accused, whose identity cannot be revealed due to a publication ban, is due to appear again this Friday morning at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse.
The accused and her son were discreet in the neighborhood, said Gaetan Roy, who lives across the street from the family home. “We didn’t really hang out with them. We didn’t see them pass by very often,” he said, a sad smile on his face.
The boy’s death sent shockwaves through residents of Chemin du Fleuve, according to Alexandre Benoît, a neighbor. “Everyone knows each other here, so a story like this hits hard,” he said. “We’re all really upside down.”