Mom of methadone-addicted baby given house arrest

Tara Maher, a woman who has admitted guilt to a series of crimes that would normally see her go to prison, will serve a sentence of house arrest so that she can care for a baby that inherited her addiction. 

Maher, 29, was sentenced to 23 months of house arrest during a hearing Monday at provincial court in St. John's. 

Court was told that Maher had a lengthy history of run-ins with the law, including multiple thefts. In March, she stole an iPod docking station and a DVD player from a Dominion store on Blackmarsh Avenue. 

A month later, she was found to be in possession of a stolen Honda Civic. 

The same day, she stole pots from a Canadian Tire outlet in Mount Pearl, and also tried to steal a barbecue. 

Later that evening, she succeeded in stealing a barbecue from a nearby Walmart. 

In the parking lot, Maher used the stolen Honda to get away — but not before she backed into a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary cruiser. When she drove forward, she struck an officer in the shins. 

When the stolen Honda was found two days later, an insurance company wrote off the $19,000 vehicle because drug paraphernalia was found in it.

Stole prescription sheets from MD

Maher, who was addicted to the powerful painkiller OxyContin, was on methadone replacement therapy in March when she was caught stealing two blank prescription sheets from her doctor. 

Crown prosecutor Sheldon Steeves asked for a jail sentence between 18 months and two years. 

Defence lawyer Stephen Orr, however, argued for house arrest. 

Orr told the court that Maher now has a five-month-old son, and noted there is no breastfeeding program in place at the provincial women's correctional centre in Clarenville. 

Orr said that the baby was born addicted to methadone, and that the boy spent his first three weeks of life in intensive care because of the addiction. 

Orr told the court that one of Maher's doctors says the baby needs to continue to be breastfed so that it can be weaned off methadone. 

In light of Orr's remarks, Goulding asked Steeves how he would feel about a sentence of house arrest. Steeves said he had no objection.