Woman who joined mother in young girl’s brutal abuse, neglect should go to prison for nine years, Crown says

A Winnipeg woman who, along with her mother, subjected a young girl to prolonged abuse and neglect that took her to the brink of death should be sentenced to nine years in prison, a judge was told Monday.

The 25-year-old accused — who can only be identified by her initials A.A.R. because she is related to the victim, who is now 15 – pleaded guilty Monday to one count of aggravated assault.

A.A.R.’s mother, N.A., 48, pleaded guilty to the same charge in 2024 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The crimes of the mother and daughter came to light only after the then-12-year-old, dangerously malnourished victim fled their Arlington Street home through a second-floor bedroom window in August 2023 wearing only a diaper, with duct tape clinging to her arms.

A neighbourhood resident found the girl in the area of Spruce Street and contacted child welfare authorities. The girl weighed 46 pounds.

A.A.R. will be sentenced at a later date following the completion of a court-ordered pre-sentence report looking into her personal background. Court heard the Crown has agreed to cap its sentencing recommendation to nine years.

According to an agreed statement of facts provided to court, N.A. was the victim’s guardian from the age of two. The victim referred to N.A. as her mother and A.A.R. as her sister.

Between August 2019 and August 2024, “the victim was both physically abused and access to food and proper nutrition was purposely withheld from her,” Crown attorney Alanna Littman told court, reading from the agreed statement of facts.

N.A. was the first to assault the girl, but over time the assaults were “taken over” by A.A.R., the victim later told police.

“A.A.R. was described by the victim as predominantly the main aggressor as time went by in the house and for a main portion of the applicable time frame,” says the agreed statement of facts.

A.A.R.’s frequent, sometimes daily assaults on the girl included A.A.R. beating her with a metal bar, a wood board or an electrical cord. During some of the assaults the girl was duct-taped to a workout bench or basement telepost.

The girl shared a bedroom with A.A.R. and slept on a mattress which she was required to return each day to the basement, where she was often forced to sleep. The girl told police she was sometimes locked inside the bedroom.

During some assaults, A.A.R. and N.A. held the girl stomach-down on a mattress, pushing her head into it, leaving her struggling to breathe.

A.A.R. was aware food was being withheld from the victim “as punishment” and that she was forced to watch as everyone else in the house, including N.A.’s other children, ate in front of her, says the agreed statement of facts.

During one two-day period, the girl was provided no food and allowed to drink only water.

The girl suffered cuts and bruising to her body, damage to her spine and “severe nutritional deficiencies requiring intravenous feeding in hospital for several weeks.”

Photographs will be provided to court at A.A.R.’s sentencing depicting the victim’s “various stages of healing and… levels of starvation,” Littman said.

In 2022-23, the girl missed 100 days of school and, in June 2023, attended only one day.

“N.A. would tell the victim she did not deserve to go to school due to her behaviour,” says the agreed statement of facts.

In the days prior to the girl’s escape, N.A. and A.A.R. forced her to wear a diaper “as they believed the victim was ‘not listening’ and wanted to punish and humiliate her.”

Since fleeing her home, the girl has recovered from most of her physical injuries and is back in school where she is “flourishing and thriving,” Littman told court at N.A.’s 2024 sentencing.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca