Meadow Lake courthouse (file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Charlene Tebbutt

assault on boy

Northern Saskatchewan mother sentenced in assault on son

Feb 21, 2019 | 5:38 PM

A northern Saskatchewan woman who assaulted her young son has been handed a conditional discharge and probation.

The 31-year-old woman, whom paNOW has chosen not to name, was ordered to abide by numerous court conditions as part of her sentence. If the woman successfully follows the conditions of her probation, the incident will not be noted on her record.

The woman pleaded guilty in Meadow Lake Provincial Court last month to one count of common assault stemming from an incident in which she admitted to grabbing her 11-year-old son by the throat and throwing him to the floor.

The incident happened last March. The boy told police his mother came home drunk and immediately became angry with him. The boy’s grandmother, who also lived at the home, told him to go downstairs, where the mother followed him. The grandmother called RCMP after she heard the boy cry out, according a court decision published in an online legal database.

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The Crown in the case asked for a jail sentence for the woman of between six and nine months, saying the child will likely suffer long-term psychological effects from the assault.

In handing down the sentence, Provincial Court Judge Miguel Martinez looked at the woman’s Indigenous background and her “difficult and dysfunctional childhood,” which included poverty and abuse. The woman was raised in the foster care system from the age of nine, which separated her from her family and culture, the decision reads.

The woman’s common-law spouse later abandoned her and her children, leading her to spiral into depression and alcohol abuse.

Martinez said the assault was an isolated incident and not part of a pattern of continued physical abuse. The boy’s injuries were also minor, he noted, and consisted of faint marks and a small scratch on his neck.

The woman expressed deep regret for her actions and since the altercation has worked with family support workers and attended addictions treatment. The woman has not had contact with the 11-year-old boy, the judge noted.

“In my opinion, the public interest will not be served by insisting that this isolated assault form part of the defendant’s criminal record,” Martinez said in his decision. “The public interest would be served best by the Court supporting the defendant’s rehabilitation, and supporting reconciliation between her, the victim, and her other children.”

The woman was ordered not to consume any alcohol and take any treatment or counselling as directed by a probation officer. She was also granted access to her son.

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Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt