Allyson McConnell says she wouldn’t rule out having more kids

EDMONTON – After three years of public silence since killing her two young sons, Allyson McConnell spoke outside her mother’s Australian home, saying she had been a loving mother and that she wouldn’t rule out having more children.

McConnell, 34, was convicted of manslaughter for the 2010 drowning deaths of her sons, 10-month-old Jayden and 2-1/2-year-old Connor. She was deported to her native Australia earlier this month after serving part of her sentence, and lives with her mother in Gosford, a city about 70 km north of Sydney.

“There have been a lot of things written about me being a bad mother,” she said, according to the recent report in the Sydney newspaper, the Telegraph. “I wasn’t a bad mother, I was actually a very loving mother. But you never hear about that.”

When asked if she would like more children, McConnell reportedly said, “I wouldn’t say no.”

McConnell was sentenced to six years on each manslaughter charge, with the sentences running concurrently. The prison term was reduced to 15 months, given the time she had already spent at Alberta Hospital after her arrest and while she was awaiting trial.

It is standard for Canadian inmates to serve two-thirds of their sentences before being freed on statutory release. She was released from custody in early April and deported, despite objections from Alberta Justice, which wanted to keep her in Canada, pending an appeal of her conviction and sentence.

McConnell’s ex-husband, Curtis McConnell, said in an email earlier this month that he was “shocked, angry and confused” about her release and that no one had told him.

He said he wants “to see a sentence that reflects the crime of killing innocent children out of what my family and I will always know to be spite.”

McConnell killed her sons in their Millet home sometime between Friday, Jan. 29 and Monday, Feb. 1, 2010. She had been involved in a custody dispute with Curtis McConnell. The couple was separated at the time of the killings.

McConnell’s mother Helen Meager, who flew to Canada to escort her home upon release from Alberta Hospital, said her daughter had a long road ahead of her.

“I don’t think people realize this has had a serious effect on her too,” Meager told the Telegraph. “She’s not well and we still have the appeal to get through. Right now we want to get her better, and settled.”