A Saskatoon woman accused of faking her death, and faking her child’s death, before crossing the United States border has received a conditional sentence.
Dawn Walker pleaded guilty to forgery offences as well as abduction in contravention of a custody or parenting order in Saskatoon provincial court on Thursday.
Walker and her child were reported missing in July 2022 after her pickup truck was found near a river at a park south of Saskatoon.
Some people feared the pair had drowned and there was a missing persons investigation. Two weeks later, she and her child were found by U.S. authorities in Oregon.
The Crown prosecutor claimed that the search to recover Walker and her son cost the province approximately $100,000.
Walker’s trial had originally been scheduled to run five weeks, between Nov. 20, 2023, and Jan. 12, 2024, in Saskatoon. Instead, on Thursday, Walker entered guilty pleas to three charges: parental abduction in contravention of a custody order, possession of a forged document and forging a passport.
On Thursday, court ruled she will complete 12 months of conditional sentencing in the community, followed by 18 months probation.
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Walker told the court her only motive for her actions was to protect her son.
After her arrest, her lawyers alleged she was a victim of domestic violence. Walker had gone to police in 2020 and 2021, filing sexual abuse complaints against her ex-partner, but upon investigation, no charges were laid.
Walker’s ex-partner, whose name is under a publication ban, denied all allegations on Thursday, adding he would never hurt his son.
“We were devastated the day they found Dawn’s truck by the river,” he said.
Walker called her actions a lapse in judgment but believes it was the only option she had to protect her child.
“It was my sacred duty and responsibility to protect my son’s innocence,” Walker told the judge.
Walker’s lawyer, Marie Henein said her client’s actions were a result of intergenerational, cultural and systemic trauma, noting that Walker grew up in an environment surrounded by addictions and physical and sexual abuse.
“What we need to be asking ourselves is, when is it going to occur to this government, the federal government and the Saskatchewan government, that something has to be done about the way the Indigenous community is dealt with?” she said.Prosecutor Tyla Olenchuk said the Crown considers systemic issues affecting Indigenous offenders, but it does not agree Walker was a victim of her former spouse or that their child was in any danger.
“The takeaway by her guilty plea is an acknowledgement by her that she did not have a legal defence to these claims, to these allegations, because of any perceived threat that she thought existed. While she has her own beliefs on what has happened and what has not happened, those are her beliefs.”
Walker will serve her sentence in the community. The Crown said community service hours will give her the chance to give back to the people who rallied around what they believed to be a missing and murdered Indigenous woman.
Walker will only be allowed to see her son with legal supervision.
She still faces two charges in the U.S. related to identity fraud for allegedly crossing the border with fake identification.
— with files from the Canadian Press
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