WATCH ABOVE: The Edmonton mother who starved and beat her twin daughters has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars. Fletcher Kent reports.
EDMONTON — A judge has sentenced a mother to 15 years for beating, neglecting and starving her two-year-old twin girls before one of them died in hospital.
Edmonton Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Eric Macklin is giving the 37-year-old woman a little over four years of credit for time she has already spent in custody.
Macklin said he could not conclude that she was depressed or mentally ill. But he added that she was “likely a mother who was completely overwhelmed by her circumstances and unable to cope” after the family moved to Canada from Algeria.
“It is difficult to conceptualize and verbalize the horrific acts to which these innocent children were subjected,” Macklin said in his decision Friday.
“It is also difficult to conceive of a more egregious breach of trust between a parent and a child.”
The girls weighed 13 and 16 pounds and were the size of six-month-old babies when paramedics were called to the family’s home in 2012.
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Court heard the twins’ four-year-old brother was healthy and the home was well stocked with food.
The mother and father both pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault.
The father said the family had difficulty adjusting to life in Canada when they immigrated in 2008.
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“I’m very appreciative as is my client,” said defence lawyer Daryl Royer, when asked for his reaction to Friday’s decision.
“I think it shows members of the public that men can’t be held to a lesser standard than the women who are suffering in their homes in isolation and men shall be expected and needed to act responsibly,” he explained.
Royer said he believes men should step forward and ask for help if their families are struggling.
“She obviously felt fearful of Canadian society and needed that society,” he added.
The mother apologized in court and said she never expected her family would face problems when they moved.
Court heard how she felt depressed and isolated caring for three preschool children at home while her husband worked.
“It’s easy for anybody to say I’m sorry but today I’m stating my sorrow is a very truthful statement. I am sorry,” the 37-year-old said with the help of an Arabic interpreter.
“I loved my children. I always wanted them to be the best they would be.”
The Crown had asked the judge to sentence the mother to between 23 and 25 years, but the defence asked for mercy, saying similar cases have ranged from 7 1/2 to 16 years.
The surviving twin and her brother were taken into foster case after their parents were arrested. They are now being raised by guardians.
The Crown had argued the mother should be sentenced to between 23 to 25 years.
But defence lawyer Daryl Royer pleaded for a “merciful sentence,” saying the crime does not call for a prison term at the high range of the scale. He did not give a sentence recommendation, but said similar cases show a range of 7 1/2 to 16 years.
The twins’ father pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to 15 years. Court heard he did not physically harm the twins but did nothing as they suffered. He also blamed a difficult adjustment to life in Canada.
Royer said that although a psychiatric report found no evidence that the mother had a mental illness, an earlier exam may have had a different result.
He noted that although the mother may be an educated woman, “a third-world education is little education at all.”
“She does love her children and she does miss them,” he said as the woman wiped away tears.
With files from Global News
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