Windsor mother sentenced to three years in prison in drowning death of five-year-old daughter

WARNING: Disturbing details: A Windsor mother is headed to prison for three years after her daughter’s drowning. CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell has more.

A Windsor mother has been sentenced to three years in prison in the drowning death of her five-year-old daughter.

Warning: story contains graphic details.

Justice Christine Malott delivered the sentence Wednesday in Ontario Court of Justice, finding the woman’s actions represented a serious breach of trust toward a vulnerable child.

The identities of the mother and child cannot be published due to a sweeping publication ban.

The woman had been convicted of criminal negligence causing death for ‘failing to provide the necessaries of life’ after her daughter drowned in a backyard pool in 2024.

In delivering her decision, Malott said the mother failed to take necessary precautions despite knowing her daughter had a history of wandering away from home and a strong attraction to water.

The judge noted the girl was believed to have had undiagnosed autism and ADHD and had previously escaped from the family home, prompting involvement from the local Children’s Aid Society.

Malott said the mother was “acutely aware of the danger” posed by the unfenced, inground pool and the child’s tendency to wander, but still left her unsupervised.

Malott said the pool and an insufficiently secured door presented a clear and immediate endangerment, given the child’s tendencies.

The judge described the circumstances leading to the child’s death as involving multiple failures to act.

Court heard the mother had taken her three young children to a man’s home after not being able to get a babysitter and left them alone so she could have sex. The girl left the house and went toward the backyard pool, but the mother was able to intervene before she entered the water.

Rather than leaving with the children, Malott said the mother placed her sleeping son in a stroller in front of the door, then again left them unsupervised, while she returned to continue the encounter. Malott said the daughter then immediately returned outside to the pool.

“She should have left, but she stayed … knowing it would be a virtual certainty that (her daughter) would go back out to the pool," Malott said.

The judge said the mother’s moral blameworthiness was extremely high.

“She was not completing household chores. She was engaged in sexual activity with a virtual stranger... She took her children to a strange place at night and left them unsupervised so she could have sex,” Malott said.

“When presented with the choice between her own wants and needs and the needs of her children, she should have prioritized her children and her parenting responsibilities. She failed to do so.”

Malott said parenting can be difficult, particularly for those caring for children with special needs, but stressed that caregivers must ensure children remain safe.

“To relinquish that duty for your own self-interest is an egregious breach of trust,” she said.

The judge said the case involved “clear and immediate endangerment,” which generally attracts heavier sentences.

“A child lost her life in a manner which could have and should have been avoided,” Malott said.

The court heard Children’s Aid Society officials had previously raised concerns about supervision and that the mother had agreed to keep the girl under constant watch and use additional locks and security measures.

Malott said despite that knowledge, the woman brought her children to a house with a pool and left them unattended.

“She knew the locks were inadequate. She left the children alone in a room. She should have known what would happen. Moments later it did,” the judge said, referring to the child again going toward and into the pool.

In sentencing, Malott said a conditional sentence such as house arrest would be “woefully inadequate” given the seriousness of the offence and the need for denunciation.

“A child has died,” she said. “No sentence that I impose will bring her back.”

Malott said it gave her no pleasure to send the woman to prison but noted the children’s father and others were involved in their care.

“The community is no doubt both shocked and horrified that this could occur,” she stated.

The woman was sentenced to three years in a federal penitentiary. She must also submit a DNA sample and was handed a 10-year weapons prohibition.

The Crown had sought a prison sentence of three to five years, while defence lawyer Alex Cardella argued for an 18-month conditional house arrest sentence followed by three years of probation.

Both Cardella and Crown attorney Nicole Stortini declined to comment following the sentencing.