Babysitter Nathalie Leclerc has been acquitted of charges of aggravated assault and negligence causing bodily harm after a mother picked up her toddler from her home ‘in an altered state of consciousness’ and in pain intracranial bleeding.
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The court found the crown had failed to show that the babysitter could be responsible for the condition of the young child who was 11 months old in November 2016, ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’.
Judge Jean Asselin said the court could not dismiss the arguments of a defense expert who cast doubt on the crown’s theory.
The Dr Guillaume Sébire had testified that the hematomas observed in the child’s brain had been caused by a pre-existing medical condition, i.e. possible external hydrocephalus, and not by shaken baby syndrome. According to the claims of the expert, the growth trajectory of the cranial circumference of the child “launched an alarm signal” on a possible macrocrania, and this, even after the incident, quoted judge Asselin.
This doubt was enough to release the 47-year-old defendant from the two charges she was facing.
More details to come…