Supreme Court of Canada says babysitter must be acquitted in toddler's death
The Supreme Court of Canada is framed between tulips in Ottawa on Monday, May 6, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada says an acquittal is the appropriate outcome for a British Columbia woman whose conviction in the drowning death of a toddler was set aside two years ago.
Tammy Bouvette was charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of criminal negligence causing the bathtub drowning death of a 19-month-old girl she had been babysitting in 2011 in Cranbrook, B.C.
In April 2023, the B.C. Court of Appeal found the Crown had failed to disclose several items of key evidence to Bouvette's lawyers, depriving her of the opportunity to make an informed decision about how to plead.
The Court of Appeal called the original conviction 'the product of a miscarriage of justice' because the evidence and circumstances established a reasonable possibility that Bouvette would not have pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death if full disclosure had been made.
The Appeal Court ordered a judicial stay of proceedings, meaning a permanent halt to the case without determining guilt or innocence.
Bouvette then asked the Supreme Court for an acquittal — a declaration of being found not guilty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025.
Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
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