Unlicensed daycare operator sued in Baby Mac's death denies allegations

The operator of an unlicensed East Vancouver daycare where a 15-month old toddler died in Jan. 2017 has denied claims of negligence.

Suzy Ahmed Saad delivered her response Tuesday to a lawsuit filed by the mother of Macallan Wayne Saini, the toddler known as Baby Mac.

As the operator of the Olive Branch Daycare, Saad was named as a defendant in the suit filed by Baby Mac's mother, Shelley Sheppard, along with the Ministry of Children and Family Development and Vancouver Coastal Health.

In her response, Saad does not admit any of the allegations and specifically denies several of the claims, including the paragraph in the lawsuit that states she operated an unlicensed child-care facility at the address where Baby Mac was found dead.

Saad also denies the account in Sheppard's notice of civil claim, outlining the circumstances of her arrival at the daycare only to discover her son had died:

"On January 18, 2017, the Plaintiff Shelley Sheppard arrived at the Daycare to pick up Mac Saini. A fire truck was parked in front of the Daycare. She followed a firefighter into the Daycare. She saw that the Daycare was overcrowded with children. She saw that the Defendant Saad had hidden one child behind a couch and other children were strapped to chairs. She followed the firefighter upstairs and witnessed her son, Mac Saini, lying on the floor. He had a "grey" pallor and it was evident to her that he was deceased."

In her response to the civil claim, Saad claims she was not negligent and the death was not the result of negligence.

"If the Plaintiff suffered any injury, loss, damage, or expense as alleged or at all, which is not admitted but specifically denied, then any such injury, loss, damage, or expense was caused or contributed to by the other Defendants," the statement reads.

Vancouver Coastal Health responded to the lawsuit in December, claiming it had no knowledge that Saad was operating an unlicensed child-care facility at the East Vancouver address.

None of the claims in the notice of civil claim, nor in the responses to the civil claim have been proven in court.

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