“We have to send a message to the entire population. It is not done to touch a child, to hurt him, ”wrote the aunt of the girl from Granby. Three people wanted to address the court during the observations on the sentence of the mother-in-law of the child which took place Friday morning: the biological mother of the victim, the grandmother and the aunt.
The mother-in-law was convicted last week of second degree murder and forcible confinement. The 38-year-old woman therefore receives life imprisonment. The Crown suggested on Friday morning that she serve 15 to 18 years in prison before being eligible to apply for parole. Instead, the defense proposed that it be eligible after 10 years.
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The girl from Granby, when she was two and a half years old.
Before lawyers plead the sentence, the girl’s biological mother spoke publicly for the first time since the start of the trial. She explained to Judge Louis Dionne the repercussions of her daughter’s death on her life. She also handed over a letter addressed to the mother-in-law. It was not read in court.
“You don’t expect to give birth to a child only to lose it in a tragedy like this,” the 30-year-old said at the outset. “The wound is still alive and it is still so painful,” she added.
The woman feels like she has been “going in circles” since the death of her daughter, she suffers from insomnia and she has difficulty keeping a job. She claims to have seen the victim’s younger brother again, who was in the house when her sister was wrapped in duct tape and was found unconscious. But their encounters stirred too many emotions and flashbacks difficult, she said.
“I can’t afford to be happy. I do not allow myself. As soon as my daughter left, I got lost and never found myself. I no longer have joy, ”said the woman who had her voice faltering at times.
“At least right now she’s not in pain anymore. This is the phrase I repeat to myself every day, every morning when I wake up and every night when I have insomnia. ”
More details to come.