this is sad, sad, sad, sad...you leave your kids with someone to care for them...and she poisons them.
Kitchener woman pleads guilty to poisoning four children
Poisoning
Waterloo Regional Police Christine Allen has admitted to poisoning four children in her Kitchener home.
By Brian Caldwell
KITCHENER – A troubled woman who ran an unlicensed daycare in her Kitchener home admitted Wednesday to poisoning four children with over-the-counter eye drops, including an infant left with lifelong mental and physical disabilities.
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Charges related to five more alleged victims – four children and an adult – were withdrawn in Kitchener court after Christine Allen, 32, entered guilty pleas to four bizarre crimes.
Details of those cases, while not acknowledged by the defence, were also outlined by Crown prosecutor Lynette Fritzley as Allen hung her head in the prisoner's box and wiped her eyes with a tissue.
By far the worst crime Allen specifically admitted involved a baby born to a close friend in the summer of 2012.
Referred to as Aunt Christine, Allen was present for the birth and seemingly supported the infant's family through a four-month ordeal at three hospitals while doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with her.
Allen videotaped some of the baby's life-threatening episodes of slowed breathing and heart rate, posting them on the internet and asking people to pray for her.
All the while, however, Allen was causing the difficulties herself by giving the infant eye drops numerous times when left alone with her.
Lack of oxygen to the brain during those spells resulted in permanent mental and physical damage.
"Nothing will ever be as they should have been and nothing on this paper that I write will even come close to explaining what we went through and the horrific trauma (the child) was purposely put through," her mother wrote in a victim impact statement.
Arrested in July after two children in her care developed mysterious symptoms including lethargy, Allen was eventually accused of poisoning eight children and an adult with eye drops.
Of the four children she admitted giving eye drops to, just one attended the informal daycare on Millwood Crescent in Kitchener that Allen ran for four or five years despite a history of mental illness.
Most of the allegations involved a time period from mid-2010 to just over a year ago. No other children were permanently harmed.
Although she told police that she gave one child the drops – which she had learned about from a crime show on television – to calm him down, no definite explanation for her crimes was outlined in court.
"The motive behind her actions can only be described as inexplicable," said prosecutor Vlatko Karadzic.
The prosecutors and defence lawyer Craig Parry jointly recommended the equivalent of a six-year prison sentence to Justice Margaret Woolcott.
Tetrahydrozoline, the active ingredient in eye drops, can cause symptoms such as abnormal drowsiness and breathing difficulties if ingested, especially by children.
Kitchener woman pleads guilty to poisoning four children
Poisoning
Waterloo Regional Police Christine Allen has admitted to poisoning four children in her Kitchener home.
By Brian Caldwell
KITCHENER – A troubled woman who ran an unlicensed daycare in her Kitchener home admitted Wednesday to poisoning four children with over-the-counter eye drops, including an infant left with lifelong mental and physical disabilities.
Related Stories:
Parents stunned as caregiver is... Daycare poisoning case now involves... Nothing funny about so-called...
Charges related to five more alleged victims – four children and an adult – were withdrawn in Kitchener court after Christine Allen, 32, entered guilty pleas to four bizarre crimes.
Details of those cases, while not acknowledged by the defence, were also outlined by Crown prosecutor Lynette Fritzley as Allen hung her head in the prisoner's box and wiped her eyes with a tissue.
By far the worst crime Allen specifically admitted involved a baby born to a close friend in the summer of 2012.
Referred to as Aunt Christine, Allen was present for the birth and seemingly supported the infant's family through a four-month ordeal at three hospitals while doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with her.
Allen videotaped some of the baby's life-threatening episodes of slowed breathing and heart rate, posting them on the internet and asking people to pray for her.
All the while, however, Allen was causing the difficulties herself by giving the infant eye drops numerous times when left alone with her.
Lack of oxygen to the brain during those spells resulted in permanent mental and physical damage.
"Nothing will ever be as they should have been and nothing on this paper that I write will even come close to explaining what we went through and the horrific trauma (the child) was purposely put through," her mother wrote in a victim impact statement.
Arrested in July after two children in her care developed mysterious symptoms including lethargy, Allen was eventually accused of poisoning eight children and an adult with eye drops.
Of the four children she admitted giving eye drops to, just one attended the informal daycare on Millwood Crescent in Kitchener that Allen ran for four or five years despite a history of mental illness.
Most of the allegations involved a time period from mid-2010 to just over a year ago. No other children were permanently harmed.
Although she told police that she gave one child the drops – which she had learned about from a crime show on television – to calm him down, no definite explanation for her crimes was outlined in court.
"The motive behind her actions can only be described as inexplicable," said prosecutor Vlatko Karadzic.
The prosecutors and defence lawyer Craig Parry jointly recommended the equivalent of a six-year prison sentence to Justice Margaret Woolcott.
Tetrahydrozoline, the active ingredient in eye drops, can cause symptoms such as abnormal drowsiness and breathing difficulties if ingested, especially by children.
