Lethbridge moms accused of going to bar while kids locked in freezing car heading to trial
CBC News | Posted: April 11, 2017 6:50 PM | Last Updated: April 11, 2017
Mothers charged after 3- and 4-year-old children found in car in -18 C weather out front of bar
Two Lethbridge mothers accused of leaving their young children locked in a car in -18 C weather so they could go drinking are heading to trial.
A lawyer for the women — who CBC News has decided not to identify in order to protect their children — says he had hoped to resolve the matter.
Brian Brown appeared in Lethbridge court on Monday and says the women have now elected to have their case tried in provincial court.
In December, a three-year-old girl and four-year-old boy were left alone in a vehicle during a cold snap as their mothers went inside a bar for over an hour, police said at the time of the arrests.
Police broke windows
Police responded to a report of a child crying inside a locked vehicle parked along the 200 block of Fifth Street south around 11:30 p.m. The car was not running.
One of the children was found under a pile of clothes, the other was in distress, police said at the time. Officers broke a window to rescue the kids.
The mothers — a 31-year-old woman and her 24-year-old niece — were found in a bar called Studio 54. Video surveillance provided by the bar showed the women had been inside for more than an hour, police said at the time.
A trial date will likely be set at the women's next court appearance later this month.
- MORE ALBERTA NEWS | Man who flew to Calgary for sex with underage girl sentenced to 7 years in jail
- MORE ALBERTA NEWS | Calgary measles case prompts exposure warning