Granby girl: no new trial for stepmother, Quebec Court of Appeal rules

The casket of a seven-year-old girl who was found in critical condition inside of a home and later died is carried from the church after funeral services, Thursday, May 9, 2019 in Granby, Que. (Ryan Remiorz / The Canadian Press)

The stepmother of the Granby girl whose death rocked Quebec was denied a new trial by the Court of Appeal, Noovo Info has learned.

The woman, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for 13 years.

In September 2024, she sought a new trial and appealed the four-year prison sentence for the confinement of her husband’s daughter. She also appealed to have the parole ineligibility period reduced to 10 years.

The defence alleged eight judicial errors, including the holding of the trial in Trois-Rivières, the seizure of her cell phone without a warrant, the summary search of the telephone without a warrant, and the admission into evidence of certain text messages exchanged between the appellant and her spouse.

The court rejected all the appellant’s arguments. When it came to the cell phone, Judge François Doyon upheld the original decision, saying that “the evidence would inevitably have been discovered since there were ample grounds for issuing a warrant that complied with the rules.”

Doyon and his colleagues Judge Michel Beaupré and Judge Myriam Lachance also cited Judge Louis Dionne’s conclusion in this case. She had said that “the accused’s behaviour is beyond comprehension.”

“The method used to correct the victim that day remains completely incomprehensible, unexplained and inexplicable. The crime is senseless and a heinous act when you think of what the victim must have gone through during those hours,” she wrote in her original judgment.

The Court of Appeal said that, as such, it could not justifiably intervene.

The evidence uncovered at the trial of the Granby girl’s stepmother and father shed light on a true horror story.

On the night of April 2019, the little girl’s father and stepmother tied her up and wrapped her in adhesive tape, leaving her naked on the floor of a closed room with barricaded windows.

“They apparently did this because of the child’s tantrums and attempts to run away. In the morning, exasperated by hearing the little girl crying and screaming, the appellant [the stepmother] wrapped her in several extra layers of adhesive tape from head to toe and left her there for several hours. The little girl, who was particularly sickly, died of suffocation,” according to the Crown’s appeal brief.

The girl’s father was sentenced to four years in prison in January 2022 after he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of forcible confinement. He was granted statutory release in May 2024 and allowed to serve the rest of his sentence, which will end on July 6, in the community.

Youth protection attorney Valerie Assouline said the girl’s family dreaded the possibility of going through another trial, which “would have been very difficult.”

“Today is a good day, we have a family that is relieved it’s behind them and they can move on,” she said. There will be no further proceedings on the case.

The young girl’s killing led the Quebec government to set up the Laurent Commission, which is to review the entire child-protection system.

But Assouline said only a few recommendations from the report have been implemented and “there are still a lot of changes that need to be done.”

With files from CTV News Montreal’ Caroline van Vlaardingen and Noovo Info