Alleged child abuser may not be criminally responsible
Posted Jun 26, 2010 08:16:25 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A woman charged with abusing her two-year-old daughter has been found fit to stand trial.
Susan Elizabeth MacDonnell, 42, went before a judge yesterday.
She now faces a 21 day psychiatric assessment to determine if she was criminally responsible at the time of the alleged offences.
A publication ban prevents the release of the exact details of the case but earlier this week the Chronicle-Herald reported MacDonnell is accused of removing her daughter’s feeding tube and tampering with formula the toddler was getting while at the IWK.
The alleged offences took place between March of 2009 and April of this year when MacDonnell entered the mental health ward at the QE2.
Crown Attorney Catherine Cogswell tells CTV MacDonnell’s been receiving psychiatric treatment since then and that why the second assessment was ordered.
“It was a combination of the unique aspects or the peculiarity of those facts combined with the fact that she’s been under ongoing psychiatric care since the time of the allegations,” she said. “As a result of reviewing the facts I became concerned about whether or not she had a psychiatric illness that would essentially render her not criminally responsible.”
She is charged with aggravated assault, criminal negligence causing bodily harm and failing to provide the necessities of life.
The toddler is reported to be doing well.
