A mother in psychological distress who had kidnapped her children, thus triggering an Amber alert across Quebec, finally got away with no criminal record after pleading guilty.
“She says she never wanted to hurt her children, that day she was looking for help,” explained judge France Charbonneau before sentencing the mother in a Laval case on Friday.
The mother in her thirties, who cannot be identified by order of the court in order to protect her children, had committed her crime in full during the pandemic.
Suffering from a borderline personality disorder, she had been prescribed new medications. Except that she had taken too much, causing a state of psychosis.
“She was experiencing a sense of persecution,” the court was told on Friday.
Successful alert
It all culminated when she kidnapped her young children, while the father was briefly away from home. The authorities were quickly contacted, which led to the triggering of an Amber alert.
The alert seems to have worked well, since when the mother stopped in a residence in the Laurentians to ask the occupant to “put her children in the warmth”, the latter recognized them.
“The children entered and the lady closed and barred the door, explained the judge. The police arrived and made the arrest [de la mère]. »
The accused then spent three months at the Philippe-Pinel Institute, and her condition has since greatly improved. So much so that following her guilty plea on Friday and at the suggestion of the parties, she obtained a discharge, conditional on a year’s probation. During this period, she must abstain from using drugs, except on prescription.
“I wish you good luck, and to live a more harmonious and zen life”, concluded the judge.