A Quebec woman who scalded a 10-year-old boy with boiling water over a doorbell prank was sentenced Wednesday to 27 months in prison, leaving the victim’s family hopeful they could turn the page on a horrific ordeal.
Stéphanie Borel pleaded guilty to aggravated assault last September, acknowledging she acted out of frustration over children ringing her doorbell repeatedly as a prank.
Quebec court Judge Marc-Antoine Carette agreed with a joint recommendation on the sentence from the Crown and defence.
At the sentencing, Crown attorney Gabriella St-Onge read a letter from the boy’s family that called for a prison time to send a message against violence against children.
“At only 10 years old, he has lost his sense of security and his carefree attitude,” the family wrote. “His schooling, development, and future were directly affected.”
The family said it had arrived in Quebec in November 2022, hoping to offer their children a safe, stable and respectful environment which was “shattered” in an act of “extreme violence,” that left the boy permanently scarred.
The Crown and defence said in a joint statement of facts that Borel did not know the boy, but assaulted him because she was fed up with schoolchildren who would ring her doorbell and run away, in a prank known as the ding-dong ditch.
Borel and the boy’s family both lived on the same street.
On the day of the incident, Oct. 2, 2024, Borel spotted the boy approaching her door. But before he could ring the bell, she tossed a container of boiling water at him.
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“It’s hot, huh? Get lost,” she told the boy, who is black. The investigation found there was no proof the victim was specifically targeted, or that his race played a role.
The boy, whose identity is subject to a publication ban, suffered serious burns to about four per cent of his body, including his face, chest and shoulder blade.
Longueuil police visited the woman’s home after the incident and let Borel go on a promise to appear. It prompted the boy’s family to go public about the assault, criticizing the justice system and suggesting that Borel was getting lenient treatment.
The parents wrote he deals with severe, constant anxiety and significant emotional distress. He regularly has nightmares and has developed profound shame related to his appearance, which has severely affected his self-esteem. He’s also had difficulties in school with the parents receiving daily calls.
“The act of child abuse is neither accidental nor trivial nor excusable,” the parents wrote. “It is a serious, premeditated act of violence against a vulnerable child that has left permanent physical and psychological scars.”
Farrah Auguste, a friend of the family, told reporters the family was hopeful to turn the page and move on.
“Of course there will be psychological effects, maybe for the rest of his life, but at least this chapter of his life, he can turn the page and move on,” Auguste said.
“And what we’re happy about is the jail sentence: it sends a clear message to the society that those kind of acts, those cruel acts, will never be accepted, will never be tolerated by the Canadian society.”
Carette thanked the family and their supporters for being present, telling them it takes courage and means revisiting an emotional situation. The judge added he was deeply convinced the child is well-surrounded.
Borel’s lawyer, Mélanie Brochu, told the court before sentencing that her client had expressed remorse towards the victim and recognizes the full extent of the consequences of her actions.
For her part, Borel did not address the court and was impassive as the prison term was handed down.
Borel had been detained since her bail was revoked last October and will now have 20 months left on her sentence.
The judge also ordered three-years of probation from her release from prison and a host of other conditions that forbid contact with the victim and his family. She is also prohibited from being within 500 metres of any primary or secondary school.
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