Mother Sentenced, Erased

April 21, 2007 permalink

Deborah Farrell has been sentenced for kidnapping her own children. Following the practice of Stalinist historians, her name has been expunged from the public consciousness, though it was published last year.

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House arrest for mom who abducted her own kids

SCOTT TRACEY

GUELPH (Apr 20, 2007)

A woman who abducted her children from their foster mother in the parking lot of a city store was placed under house arrest yesterday for two years less a day.

The 45-year-old earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of child abduction. She cannot be named under the Child and Family Services Act, which prohibits the identification of children in foster care.

Court heard that in the spring of 2006, the local office of Family and Children's Services entered a supervision agreement with the woman that included several conditions, including abstention from drug use and open access by agency staff to the children.

On June 9, an agency worker went to the woman's apartment where he found the children unattended because the woman was asleep. The six-year-old had soiled himself. An earlier test had proven positive for drug use, so the children were taken and placed in foster care.

The next day, court heard, the foster parent was confronted as she put the children into her van in the parking lot of the Zellers store on Stone Road. She was approached by the mother and a female friend, who grabbed the 45-year-old's two kids and put them into a car before speeding away.

Police reported the accomplice turned herself in the following day. Subsequent investigation led police to the Valens Conservation Area where the woman and her two children were located.

Yesterday, Guelph Superior Court Justice Bruce Durno agreed to impose a term of two years less a day, the maximum sentence allowed before someone is placed in a federal penitentiary.

The judge agreed to let the woman, who has a minor criminal record including theft and obstructing police, serve her time in the community under house arrest. She was also banned from possessing weapons for 10 years.

stracey@guelphmercury.com

Source: Guelph Mercury

Addendum: A reader points out that a mother sleeping is now considered to be abandonment, and cause for taking the kids.