SUDBURY -- A Sudbury, Ont. mother has received a jail sentence after her baby drowned in the bathtub while she was distracted by Facebook.
The 31-year-old mother's name is being withheld due to a court-imposed publication ban.
She received a sentence of 90 days in jail, to be served intermittently on the weekends. The reasoning for this sentence is to allow her to continue participating in parenting, stress, and skill programs she is enrolled in.
The woman, who has been convicted of failing to provide the necessaries of life, will also receive 24 months of probation.
Her 18-month-old died in 2017 when the woman left the child in the bathtub with their three-year-old sibling when she left the room to get a towel.
The court heard through the proceedings that the mother had left the children alone for 11 minutes while she was on Facebook. When she returned to her children in the bathroom, she found her youngest unresponsive.
She called her ex, the boys' father who lived close by, then a friend, and then 911.
Jody Ostapiw was the Crown Attorney on the case.
"There is lots of time to check Facebook, and Twitter, and Instagram, and all those things when kids are tucked safely away for the night. It does not have to be done when they are in your immediate care, under your direct supervision, and certainly not when they are in dangerous situations like being in a bathtub," said Ostapiw.
The publication ban also prevents us from identifying the family.
The mother was originally charged with criminal negligence causing death, but pled guilty to the lesser charge of failing to provide the necessities of life.
"I hope this is the last case of this kind in our community of Sudbury. That tonight, parents are watching your broadcast or reading the paper tomorrow, and they think to themselves, 'you know what, I am going to put my phone down and watch my kids, keep an eye on my kids, and be engaged with my children,' so we never have to stand here again with such a tragedy," said Ostapiw.
Justice John Keast heard the mother has developmental disabilities and functions at a level much lower than the average person, but said this is not a case of diminished responsibility.
"We live in a social media-obsessed world and the court must send a clear message there will be serious consequences to tragedies caused by distracted parenting," said Keast.
