Quebec woman released from custody after arrest linked to death of abandoned newborn

constabulary on Montreal’s due south shoring say a 33-year-old adult female has been released from custody on several conditions in connectedness with the death of a newborn found alone in a bus shelter Monday morning.

In a news release Tuesday, Longueuil police said the woman received physical and psychological support and remains under the care of appropriate resources.

She will be required to appear in court if charges are laid.

This comes after police found the baby in a bus shelter on Chambly Road near Briggs Street early Monday morning.

The baby was found still attached to the placenta, naked and very cold, according to the Coopérative des techniciens ambulanciers de la Montérégie, the paramedic service for Quebec’s Montérégie region.

The baby was unconscious when found, and resuscitation manoeuvres were carried out until the baby arrived at the hospital. The woman was arrested shortly after.

Police would not confirm if the woman is the baby’s mother, but said officers could potentially lay a charge of infanticide against her.

In Tuesday’s news release, police said the investigation is continuing in order to validate certain elements that will help determine the applicable charges in the case.

Police have not said the woman is homeless, but Pierre Rousseau, who heads the local shelter La Halte du coin — close by to where the baby was found — says the woman in question used their services early Monday morning.

"She arrived there during the night around three in the morning," he said. The baby was discovered around 6:30 a.m. 

He says the woman came in to use the warming centre and sat in a chair and fell asleep. Nothing seemed off, he says, until she got up from the chair a few hours later. That's when he says he saw something abnormal.

Rousseau wouldn't share details of what he saw because of the ongoing investigation but says the shelter shared the information about the woman with police, who were already at the site nearby.

Police, however, would not confirm if it was the same woman.

This wasn’t the first baby found in the city this month. Another newborn was found on the doorstep of a home on Bourgeoys Street in Longueuil. The boy had been found swaddled in a blanket with his umbilical cord still attached.

At Charles-Le Moyne Hospital, emergency room physician Dr. Marc-Antoine Pigeon was part of the team of about 15 people who tried, in vain, to resuscitate the baby on Monday morning.

In Europe, some U.S. States and some Canadian provinces, baby boxes or drawers as safe places of last resort are available for people who are seeking to abandon a child.

Asked if this could be implemented in Quebec, at the door of a hospital or a fire station, Pigeon said, “Ultimately, this option allows one thing: that this baby receives attention and care quickly. That’s what makes the difference in a context like this.”

Lionel Carmant, Quebec’s minister responsible for social services, was also asked about baby boxes on Tuesday. He said there are already services in place for these situations.

“There’s ways to ask for help,” he told reporters, citing various services such as local CLSCs or youth protection. “There are ways to help women who don’t feel able or who need help when they deliver.”

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