Woman who threw boiling water on 10-year-old boy denied temporary absence from prison

The woman who was found guilty of throwing boiling water on a 10-year-old child was denied access to temporary absence permits from prison.

Stéphanie Borel, 47, has served five months in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated assault in September after scalding the boy in Oct. 2024.

“The commission considers that your level of introspection remains insufficient and that the understanding of the mechanisms that led to an act of such gravity must be further deepened,” the parole board wrote in a ruling.

The board decided that incarceration “remains the preferred measure.”

The child had been playing “ding-dong-ditch” with schoolmates for several months before Borel tossed scalding water on him, saying, “It’s hot, huh! Get lost.”

• Longueuil, Que. woman pleads guilty to throwing boiling water on 10-year-old boy

The Quebec Parole Board said that Borel made no attempt to contact police or the children’s parents about their pranks at her door before she assaulted the boy.

She did, however, call the police two days after scalding the boy to “report what you perceived as harassment from your neighbours” and to admit that she threw hot water at someone, but claimed she didn’t know it was a child.

“During your arrest and subsequent interrogation, you reiterated that you did not know the victim and maintained that you were heating water to unclog your pipes,” the parole board document reads. “You also explained your reaction by citing the disturbance caused by the repeated knocking on your door, which you said was bothering your cats, as well as a stressful situation related to changes in your professional life.”

She was sentenced to 27 months behind bars.

The document reads that Borel now acknowledges she heated water with the intent of throwing it at “whoever came knocking” at the door, and that she suspected it was children.

However, the document says, she maintains that it was not premeditated, “but rather impulsive, having considered it shortly before carrying it out.”

She was, the document reads, trying to end the situation and didn’t think the water was hot enough to cause burns, which it did.

Borel grew up with a violent father and was the victim of childhood abuse, the document reads, which “contributed to the development of emotional difficulties and a persistent sense of insecurity.”

Though the parole board admits that her risk of recidivism is low and that she participated in several programs and workshops to improve her behaviour, several negative factors weigh against the progress she’s made.

“The Commission cannot ignore the nature and objective seriousness of the offences committed,” the board writes. “It notes, in particular, that you deliberately threw boiling water at a child of […] years old, an act whose consequences could have been even more dramatic. It also considers the severity of the injuries suffered by the victim, which were numerous and long-lasting.

“The Commission further considers that the actions taken appear gratuitous, extremely cruel, and directed at a person particularly vulnerable due to their age.”

The board also said that she showed an impulsive lack of judgment, did not acknowledge why she decided to boil water and claimed not to know the victim was a child.