Katherine Thompson, 62 of St. Marys, pleaded guilty in Superior Court Tuesday morning to infanticide in the 1985 death of her infant daughter.
The St. Marys woman initially charged with first-degree murder in the 1985 death of her infant daughter last fall pleaded guilty Tuesday to a reduced charge of infanticide in Stratford Superior Court.
Katherine Thompson, 62, appeared before Justice Marc Garson to enter her plea to the amended charge, which stemmed from a Perth County provincial police investigation last year into the death of 25-day-old Meghan Calla Thompson in October 1985.
“I wish to express my deepest remorse for causing the death of my daughter, Meghan. I’m so sorry she is not here to enjoy a life that she so deserved to live. I have carried this hard and disturbing secret with me for 36 years. I am deeply sorry to my family for the pain and sorrow I have brought to them all,” Thompson said while fighting back tears.
The court heard Thompson had been suffering from postpartum depression without support after giving birth to Meghan. The court was also told Meghan’s death led to Thompson suffering decades of severe depression and three suicide attempts before she ultimately confessed to the offense last year.
The court also heard that Meghan’s cause of death was originally classified as sudden infant death syndrome, a classification that has since fallen out of fashion with forensic pathologists for the deaths of seemingly healthy infants for no apparent reason.
Garson also heard the details of a joint sentencing submission proposed by defense lawyer Kirsten Van Drunen and Crown lawyer Elizabeth Wilson Tuesday morning. The lawyers asked that the judge consider a conditional sentence of 18 months – 12 months at home and the remaining six on a curfew – followed by two years of probation.
Summarizing from the 1985 Criminal Code of Canada definition of infanticide, Wilson told the court the offense refers to causing the death of a newly born child by the child’s mother at which time the child’s mother has not fully recovered from the effects of giving birth to the child, causing her mind to be disturbed.
Garson is expected to deliver his sentencing decision Tuesday afternoon.
More to come.