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Kelowna mother given conditional sentence for sexually abusing daughter

Justice Barry Davies found the woman guilty based on compelling evidence from her daughter
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Kelowna Law Courts (Phil McLachlan/Capital New)

Warning: This story contains graphic details of sexual abuse that readers may find disturbing.

A Kelowna woman has been handed a 23-month conditional sentence after she was convicted on three counts of sexually abusing her daughter. The 43-year-old woman and her daughter were not identified in the B.C. Supreme Court decision.

Justice Barry Davies found the woman guilty based on compelling evidence from her daughter, referred to only as P. in the court document.

P. was interviewed for more than two hours by Const. Claudette St. Thomas with Kelowna RCMP’s Child Exploitation Unit. St. Thomas is specially trained in interviewing child witnesses. During the interview, P. testified that her mother had touched her vagina, rolled on top of her while both of them were naked and placed her mouth on P.’s vagina.

The incident occurred in Nov. 2018 when P. was eight years old.

When asked why P. believed her mother would do that, she testified that her mother had been using “bad pills” and drinking that night.

P. disclosed the assault to her aunt, with whom she now lives.

P. was removed from her mother’s care after an incident where the mother consumed two Zopiclone sleeping pills and drank a full glass of wine before picking P. up from school. The mother then fell asleep and could not be woken up, which prompted P. to phone her grandmother for help.

The mother denies the allegations and believes her daughter was brainwashed by her grandmother and aunt. However, she did admit to accidentally rolling onto P. She also admitted the two of them would often sleep together naked.

“I went after her and said, I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t even know she had come to my room and then she came back to bed.”

In his decision, Justice Davies found the mother’s testimony was unreliable and did not believe her denials, saying she was often “evasive and defensive” on the matter of sexual touching.

“Although the accused denied the sexual aspects of P.’s testimony and sought to minimize the effect of much of her testimony, she also corroborated much of P.’s more significant testimony,” Davies wrote.

The woman is currently serving her 23-month conditional sentence and will have two years of probation afterwards.

READ MORE: West Kelowna RCMP confirm two men shot, taken to hospital with serious injuries


@SchislerCole
cole.schisler@bpdigital.ca

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