A Toronto mother who allegedly threw her four-year-old son off a 10th-floor balcony from a downtown condominium building three weeks ago has been denied bail.
Sitting in a video booth at the Vanier Institute for Women, wearing a green prison sweatsuit, the woman, whose identity is covered by a publication ban to protect the identity of the child, put her head in her hands as Justice of the Peace Paul Yeung told the accused she would not be released.
The decision, which was read out in the Ontario Court of Justice on Monday, followed a lengthy special bail hearing over a number of days last week in which the defence proposed a plan for release.
On May 12th, around 10 p.m., police were called to a condo building on Front Street east of Spadina Avenue, after a child was located on the ground. Tenants told Global News that the child had been found in the bushes near the front entrance of the building. The child was taken to the Hospital for Sick Children with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
The woman was charged with attempted murder, administering a noxious substance, namely tylenol and/or acetaminophen and alcohol, to endanger life, failing to provide the necessaries of life for a child under 16, and aggravated assault.
Court documents obtained by Global News find the woman, who turned 34 last week while in custody, had previously been charged with mischief and two counts of assault in relation to the child’s father in August 2023. Those charges are still before the court.
The justice of the peace’s reasons for denying bail to the woman are covered under a publication ban.
The woman returns to court later this month and has been ordered to have no contact with the child or the child’s father while awaiting trial.